FOR" 

%e  Ston/ of  Hampton  Institute 

By  FRANCIS  G.  PEABODY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


/ 


EDUCATION    FOR    LIFE 

THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  witin  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/educationforlifeOOpeabiala 


FOUNDER  AND  FIRST  PRINCIPAL  OF  HAMPTON    INSTITUTE 

(1868-1893) 
Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong 


Education  for  Life 

The  Story  of  Hampton  Institute 

Told  in  Connection  with  the  Fiftieth 

Anniversary  of  the  Foundation 

of  the  School 

By 

Francis  Greenwood  Peabody 

Utmhtt  oj  the  Btard  0/  TrutUtt 


Illustrated 


Garden  City  New  York 

Doubleday,  Page  &  Company 

1918 


Copyright,  iqi8,  by 

DOUBLEDAY,    PaGE    &   CoMPANY 

All  rights  reserved,  including  that  of 

translation  into  foreign  languages, 

including  the  Scattdinavian 


Collegt 
Ubwy 

THE  PILOTS  OF  HAMPTON  ^  g  ^/ 

H3ZP3 

Into  what  storms  of  sharp  adversity 

Our  untried  venture  first  put  out  to  sea; 

As  new-launched  ships  their  distant  harbors  seek 

Beyond  the  eddies  of  the  Chesapeake  ! 

What  ancient  feuds  sprang  up  to  bar  her  way, 

Like  angry  seas  that  surge  across  the  Bay  ! 

What  perils  met  the  course  she  had  to  shape, 

Like  gales  that  lurk  beyond  the  sheltering  Cape  I 

Yet  through  the  tortuous  channels  of  his  time. 

With  fearless  foresight  and  with  faith  sublime, 

In  risks  rejoicing,  and  by  truth  made  free, 

Our  pilot  steered  us  toward  our  destiny. 

II 

With  precious  lives  deep-laden,  hastening  home, 
Her  canvas  lifting  and  her  bow  a-f6am, 
Our  vessel  answers  to  the  hand  that  steers 
Straight  to  the  harbor  of  her  fifty  years. 
Serene  the  inward  pilot  is,  and  wise 

To   MARK  the   portents   OF   THE    SEA   AND    SKIES; 
As   one   who   RUNNING    FOR  THE    CaPES   ONCE   MORE 

Sights  the  low  land-marks  of  Virginia's  shore, 
so,  through  her  calms  and  storms,  of  ill  and  g00i\ 
Our  ship  has  weathered  life's  vicissitude; 
Her  outward  voyage  beset  by  hostile  seas. 
Her  homeward  passage  with  a  following  breeze. 

Ill 

Here,  then,  she  waits  for  new  adventurings 
And  restless  at  her  straining  cable  swings; 
While  eagerly  her  new  commander  hears 
His  summons  to  explore  the  uncharted  years. 
Through  the  swift  currents  of  the  coming  age 
Clear  be  his  sight  and  sure  his  pilotage  ; 
Strong  be  his  faith  and  loyal  be  his  crew. 
And  firm  the  hand  that  holds  his  rudder  true  ! 
Blow,  winds  of  God,  like  the  unswerving  Trades, 
While  he  fares  sea-ward,  and  the  coast-line  fades; 
Pacing  his  deck  to  know  that  all  is  well, — 
Daring  as  Armstrong,  prudent  as  Frissell. 


CONTENTS 


Introduction 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Negro  in  the  Civil  War  (1861-1865) 

II.  The  Negro  after  the  Civil  War  (1865-1868) 

III.  The  Coming  of  Armstrong  (1839-1868)     . 

IV.  The  Beginnings  of  Hampton  (i 868-1 872) 
V.  The  Years  of  Promise  (1872-1878) 

VI.    The  Coming  of  the  Indians  (1878) 
VII.    The  Years  of  Fulfilment  (i 878-1 890) 
VIII.    The  End  of  an  Era  (1890-1893)   . 
IX.    The  Coming  of  Frissell  (1880-1893) 
X.    The  Expansion  of  Hampton  (1893-19 
XI.    Hampton  and  the  South    . 
XII.    Hampton  and  the  Future 

Appendices 

Index  


8) 


PAGE 

xi 
3 

26 

55 

95 

127 

145 

178 
208 
227 
242 
282 
304 
327 
391 


Vll 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Founder   and    First    Principal    of    Hampton    Institute 

(1868- 1 893) Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Hampton  Institute  grounds  in  the  Civil  War      \  12 

Map  of  the  Hampton  Peninsula in  text  27 

Town  of  Hampton  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War       .  32 

Burning  of  Hampton  by  General  Magruder     ....  32 

The  Butler  School 44 

A  Contraband's  cabin 44 

Birthplace  of  Hampton's  Founder 60 

"Mansion  House,"  Hampton  Institute 60 

Hampton  Institute  waterfront,  1868 no 

Hampton  Institute  waterfront,  1878 no 

Virginia  Hall 128 

Group  of  Indians  on  arrival  at  Hampton 148 

Same  group  some  months  later 148 

Map  showing  distribution  of  Hampton's  returned  Indians 

(1917) in  text  163 

Reservation  hospital  built  through  the  influence  of  an 

Indian  graduate 166 

Hampton  Indian  breaking  his  own  land 166 

William  Jones  (Megasiawa) 170 

Children  of  the  Whittier  Training  School  saluting  the  Flag  1 88 

ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAcnG  TAom 

Hampton's  most  distinguished  graduate     .      .  194 

Facsimile  of  a  page  of  the  Armstrong  "Memoranda"  in  text  226 

Grave  of  the  Founder  of  Hampton  Institute    ....  226 

Hampton's  Second  Principal  (1893-1917) 234 

The  spirit  of  Hampton 240 

Huntington  Memorial  Library 248 

One  wing  of  the  Armstrong-Slater  Memorial  Trade  School  248 

The  Anniversary  Day  Procession 252 

Map  showing  distribution  of  Negro  graduate  teachers 

(1894)         in  text  257 

Map  showing  distribution  of  Negro  graduates  and  ex- 
students     in  text  262 

A  home  of  Hampton  graduates 270 

Robert  Curtis  Ogden 276 

Present  Principal  of  Tuskegee  Institute 286 

James  Hall,  a  boys'  dormitory 294 

Robert  C.  Ogden  Auditorium .  294 

Hampton's  Third  Principal 304 

Hampton  Institute  waterfront  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  .  312 

Hampton  battalion  of  cadets 318 

Carl  Schurz  Hall 318 


INTRODUCTION 

THE  story  of  Hampton  Institute  has  been  often  told 
and  is  familiar  to  great  numbers  of  appreciative  friends. 
The  dramatic  career  of  General  Armstrong,  the  teachings 
which  he  impressed  in  many  striking  aphorisms,  the 
reminiscences  of  devoted  teachers,  the  impressions  of 
observant  visitors  from  many  lands, — these,  with  the 
various  publications  of  the  school  itself,  have  created 
an  extensive  and  widely  disseminated  literature.  Few 
educational  institutions  in  the  United  States  have  re- 
ceived, or  have  deserved  to  receive,  so  much  scrutiny 
or  praise.  It  has  seemed,  however,  to  the  Trustees  ap- 
propriate, and  it  was  the  special  desire  of  the  late  Prin- 
cipal, that  at  the  end  of  a  half-century  of  its  life  a  general 
survey  should  be  made  of  the  aims  and  achievements  of 
the  school,  and  in  the  following  pages  the  attempt  is 
made  to  sketch  the  history  of  its  foundation  and  growth. 
It  is  important  at  the  outset  to  indicate  what  kind  of 
institution  it  is  which  thus  appears  to  justify  further 
examination.  A  reader  may  easily  be  misled  by  some 
preconception  of  its  aims;  and  the  multiplicity  of  de- 
tails which  must  be  considered  may  obstruct  one's 
general  view,  as  though  the  trees  shut  out  the  forest. 

xi 


INTRODUCTION 

Hampton  Institute  may  be  studied  as  a  well-organized 
school  for  industrial  training,  or  as  an  evidence  of  the 
Negro's  capacity  for  education,  or  as  a  contribution  to 
the  economic  welfare  of  the  Southern  States;  and  in 
all  these  aspects  it  has  important  lessons  to  teach.  Yet, 
before  approaching  these  contributions  to  economic  and 
educational  progress,  it  must  be  pointed  out  that  none 
of  these  external  or  statistical  results  represents  the 
essential  significance  of  Hampton,  or  gives  it  the  place 
which  it  has  attained  in  the  affection  of  its  friends,  and 
which  it  is  likely  to  hold  in  the  social  history  of  the 
United  States.  This  permanent  distinction,  which  it  is 
the  chief  purpose  of  this  volume  to  describe,  is  the  con- 
sequence of  three  characteristics,  whose  concurrent  ac- 
tion in  institutional  life  is  rare,  if  not  unique. 

It  should  be  realized,  in  the  first  place,  that  Hampton 
Institute  is  essentially  a  spiritual  enterprise,  conceived 
as  a  form  of  missionary  service,  perpetuated  as  a  school 
of  character,  and  maintained  by  a  long  series  of  self- 
sacrificing  teachers,  who  through  the  routine  of  their 
work  have  communicated  the  spirit  of  their  consecration 
and  have  sanctified  themselves  for  others'  sakes.  The 
casual  observer  sees  about  him  an  imposing  group  of 
buildings ;  he  visits  academic  classes,  trade-schools, 
laboratories  for  domestic  science,  and  a  dairy  farm; 
and  he  may  not  unreasonably  infer  that  this  busy  and 
diversified  activity  is  not  distinguishable  from  that  of 
any  other  academy  or  industrial  college  where  technical 
training  is  the  recognized  aim.  In  its  outward  form 
xii 


INTRODUCTION 

Hampton  is  an  educational  institution.  Four  millions  of 
Negroes,  of  whom  ninety  per  cent  were  illiterate,  abruptly 
led  out  of  the  darkness  of  slavery  into  the  full  sunshine 
of  liberty,  had  to  be  incorporated  in  the  life  of  the  nation, 
or  remain  a  permanent  menace  both  to  its  welfare  and  its 
self-respect.  Repression,  colonization,  segregation,  ex- 
termination,— all  had  been  seriously  proposed  as  solu- 
tions of  this  racial  problem.  It  soon  appeared,  however, 
that  the  only  way  of  national  security  was  through  a 
comprehensive  scheme  of  education.  "Ignorance,"  one 
of  the  wisest  of  Southern  statesmen,  Dr.  Curry,  once 
said,  **is  not  a  remedy  for  anything";  and  to  the  same 
effect  were  the  ringing  words  of  Booker  Washington : 
"A  country  which  was  not  safe  with  ignorant  slaves 
cannot  be  safe  with  ignorant  freemen."  In  this  task 
of  training  a  backward  race  for  citizenship,  Hampton 
Institute  has  had  a  leading  part.  "The  only  hope  for 
the  future  of  the  South,"  said  General  Armstrong,  "is 
in  a  vigorous  attempt  to  lift  the  colored  race  by  a  prac- 
tical education  that  shall  fit  them  for  life."  Yet  to  de- 
fine Hampton  as  an  educational  institution  is  to  leave 
the  secret  of  its  vitality  undisclosed.  Within  the  body 
of  instruction  there  is  an  institutional  soul,  a  spiritual 
tradition,  which  gives  to  the  work  a  peculiar  character, 
and  whose  influence  one  feels  about  him  like  the  gentle 
air  of  spring-time  in  Virginia.  Fidelity,  conscientious- 
ness, loyalty,  cheerfulness,  and  sacrifice  meet  one  on 
every  hand.  Religion  is  healthy-minded  and  generous. 
Moral   lapses    have    been    extremely    rare.     Work    and 

xiii 


INTRODUCTION 

prayer  are  daily  companions.  The  visitor  is  as  likely 
to  get  good  as  to  give  it.  In  short,  he  finds  himself 
observing  in  a  corner  of  the  world  the  way  in  which  the 
entire  world  ought  to  be  directed  and  controlled — a  great 
spiritual  tradition  penetrating  and  illuminating  daily 
life,  lifting  work  into  worship,  and  showing  its  faith  in 
its  works.  Not  until  this  soul  of  Hampton  has  been 
discerned  through  the  forms  of  its  industrial  life  is  the 
school  seen  as  it  really  is. 

The  second  characteristic  which  justifies  this  history 
is  a  corollary  of  the  first.  The  spiritual  enterprise  which 
the  school  represents  finds  its  special  instrument  and 
immediate  expression  in  industrial  efficiency.  This  prop- 
osition does  not  mean  that  Negroes  should  be  denied 
other  forms  of  education,  or  debarred  from  professional 
and  administrative  careers.  The  controversy  which  has 
sprung  up  on  this  subject  is  superfluous  and  futile.  No 
race  can  rise  unless  the  best  is  within  its  reach,  and  a 
race  which  must  work  out  its  destiny  without  being 
merged  in  other  races  has  all  the  more  imperative  need 
of  its  own  physicians,  lawyers,  ministers,  and  teachers 
of  every  grade,  with  competent  training  for  a  competitive 
world.  The  growth  of  institutions  devoted  to  these 
ends  is  an  essential  element  in  the  progress  of  any  race. 
Yet  it  is  obvious  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  Negro 
race,  as  of  other  races,  must  continue  to  be  hand-work- 
ers, in  the  fields  or  in  household  or  mechanic  arts,  and 
that  their  training  must  be  adapted  to  the  rural  and 
industrial  conditions  in  which  they  are  to  earn  their 
xiv 


INTRODUCTION 

living.  The  education,  therefore,  of  those  of  their  own 
race  who  are  to  teach  and  guide  them,  should  not  only 
cover  the  elements  of  culture,  but  also  promote  manual 
industry  and  mechanical  skill.  The  training  of  the  mind 
should  be  applied  to  the  training  of  the  hand.  :  Realizing 
these  conditions  of  its  largest  usefulness,  Hampton  in  its 
original  organization  accepted  the  title  of  a  "Normal 
and  Agricultural  Institute." 

In  this  direction  of  effort,  however,  there  is  more  than 
may  at  first  be  appreciated.  It  means  not  merely 
efl&ciency,  but  character.  Its  aim  is  not  productive- 
ness only,  but  personality.  "Education  for  Life,"  which 
was  the  constant  theme  of  Armstrong's  teaching,  essential 
though  it  be  to  secure  to  thousands  of  young  men  and 
women  their  self-support,  is  not  an  end  in  itself,  but  a 
means.  The  discovery  which  gives  to  the  Founder  of 
Hampton  a  permanent  place  among  the  greatest  names 
in  the  history  of  education  was  the  discovery  that  a 
judicious  training  of  the  hand  is  at  the  same  time  a  dis- 
cipline of  the  mind  and  will;  that  industrial  efficiency 
has  moral  consequences.  This  high  doctrine  of  the 
spiritual  significance  of  physical  work  has  been  taught 
with  reiterated  emphasis  in  many  Reports  of  the  school. 
"The  moral  advantages  of  industrial  training  over  all 
other  methods  justify  the  expense"  (1872).  "Experience 
has  strengthened  my  conviction  of  labor  as  a  moral 
force"  (1888).  "Character  is  the  best  outcome  of  the 
labor  system"  (1891).  "Honestly  giving  value  for  value, 
labor  becomes  a  stepping  stone,  a  ladder,  to  education, 

XV 


INTRODUCTION 

to  all  higher  things,  to  success,  manhood,  and  character" 
(1892).  In  other  words,  industrial  education  not  only 
increases  wage-earning  capacity,  but  promotes  fidelity, 
accuracy,  honesty,  persistency,  and  intelligence.  The 
capacity  to  make  a  living  becomes  enlarged  into  the 
capacity  to  make  a  life.  The  busy  scene,  therefore, 
which  meets  one  at  Hampton,  of  cooking  and  carpenter- 
ing, of  blacksmithing  and  agriculture,  should  be  regarded, 
not  merely  as  a  preparation  for  bread-winning,  but  as 
the  outward  expression  of  that  spiritual  enterprise  which 
Hampton  fundamentally  represents — the  way  to  trust- 
worthy manhood  and  self-respecting  womanhood.  The 
training  of  the  hand  is  at  the  same  time  a  clarifying  of 
the  mind  and  a  purifying  of  the  heart.  The  class-room, 
the  trade-school,  the  farm,  and  the  church  are  co-ordi- 
nated agents  of  education  as  it  is  conceived  at  Hampton. 
Education  and  religion  meet  in  this  attempt  to  deal 
with  the  whole  of  life.  Holiness  is  but  another  name 
for  wholeness.  No  life  is  whole  that  is  not  holy,  and 
no  life  is  holy  that  is  not  whole.  That  is  the  daily  con- 
fession, in  worship  and  in  work,  of  Hampton's  educational 
creed. 

Finally,  among  the  characteristics  of  Hampton  In- 
stitute which  give  it  a  place  of  its  own  in  the  history  of 
education  must  be  named  the  relation  which  it  bears  to 
the  two  men  who  during  the  fifty  years  of  its  history 
have  directed  its  affairs.  By  a  curious  destiny  the  terms 
of  service  of  these  two  leaders  were  practically  identical 
in  length.  Armstrong  died  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of 
xvi 


INTRODUCTION 

the  school  which  he  had  created ;  his  successor  lived  to 
plan  for  the  school's  Fiftieth  Anniversary,  though  not 
to  share  in  it.  The  first  was  the  Founder;  the  second 
was  the  Builder;  and  Hampton  is  the  incarnation  of 
these  two  personalities — so  different  in  type,  yet  so 
wholly  one  in  aim.  An  institution  may  rest  on  either 
of  two  foundations — on  a  plan,  or  on  a  man.  Some- 
times it  happens  that  a  college,  or  a  church,  or  a  phil- 
anthropic scheme,  is  first  sketched  on  paper,  then  en- 
dowed with  money,  and  finally  supplied  with  a  man  to 
direct  it.  Such  enterprises,  however,  move  hesitatingly 
and  tentatively  until  the  man  arrives,  and  many  a  rich 
endowment  has  failed  of  its  intention  because  it  has  not 
been  able  to  secure  as  its  administrator  a  leader  of  men. 
Sometimes,  on  the  other  hand,  such  a  work  begins  with 
a  man.  He  sees  his  vision  and  is  obedient  to  it.  He 
begins  just  where  he  is  and  with  what  he  has.  He  sets 
his  will  to  his  task,  as  though  daring  to  repeat  the  ma- 
jestic saying :  "Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also."  Then 
his  work  grows  as  nature  grows.  It  is  not  built  up  from 
without,  but  inspired  from  within.  It  may  grow  in  time 
to  be  a  great  institution,  with  much  routine  and  detail 
and  mechanism,  but  the  mechanism  feels  the  interior 
force  of  personality,  as  the  whirling  wheels  of  a  factory 
testify  to  the  engine  at  its  heart.  In  a  degree  almost 
unparalleled  Hampton  was  built,  not  upon  a  plan,  but 
upon  a  man.  Its  security  is  not  in  its  educational  scheme, 
but  in  its  personal  tradition.  Teachers  and  students 
throughout  its  history  have  walked  by  faith  in  Arm- 

xvii 


INTRODUCTION 

strong.  When  he  died,  the  tradition  of  his  leadership 
and  the  precepts  of  his  teaching  were  scrupulously  pre- 
served. His  successor  habitually  stood  in  the  shadow 
of  Armstrong's  memory.  The  cult  of  the  Founder  has 
been  maintained  as  the  most  sacred  possession  of  the 
school.  To  have  joined  any  other  memory  with  his 
would  have  seemed  to  the  self-efFacing  man  on  whom 
Armstrong's  mantle  fell  an  act  of  irreverence  or  sacrilege. 
Now,  however,  that  for  a  second  time  the  life  of  a 
leader  has  been  laid  on  the  altar  of  the  school,  the  lips 
of  the  historian  are  unsealed,  and  that  which  could  not 
be  said  while  HoUis  Frissell  was  able  to  protest  against 
it  as  excessive  praise,  may  be  freely  spoken.*  Slowly, 
through  twenty-four  years,  at  first  within  the  inner 
circle  of  the  school  and  finally  throughout  the  South 
and  the  country,  it  has  become  evident  that  the  loss  of 
Armstrong,  which  at  first  appeared  irreparable,  has  been 
succeeded  by  the  gain  of  a  personal  influence,  more 
tranquil  and  restrained,  yet  not  less  pervasive  and  per- 
manent. Never  were  two  administrative  officers  more 
unlike  each  other.  Armstrong  was  impetuous,  magnetic, 
volcanic ;  Frissell  was  reserved,  sagacious,  prudent.  The 
gifts  of  the  one  were  those  of  action ;  the  strength  of  the 
other  was  in  discretion.  Thus  the  first  leader  was  or- 
dained to  direct  the  first  quarter-century  of  Hampton, 
and  the  second  for  the  not  less  critical  problems  of  the 
years  which  followed.     Initiative,  originality,  even  au- 

*  Hollis  Burke  Frissell,  Principal  of  Hampton  Institute,  died  at  Whitefield, 
New  Hampshire,  August  5,  1917. 

xviii 


INTRODUCTION 

dacity,  were  essential  to  begin  such  a  work,  and  to  in- 
spire confidence  in  it ;  but  when  a  great  institution  had 
been  established  and  must  be  sustained  and  developed 
without  mishap,  then  the  time  had  come  for  a  peculiar 
quality  of  wisdom,  patience,  tolerance,  and  foresight, 
which  could  mediate  between  Negro  education  and 
Southern  sentiment,  and  apply  to  larger  tasks  the  ideals 
of  the  Founder. 

The  first  evidence  of  this  wisdom  which  was  from 
above  was  supplied  in  Frissell's  habitual  attitude  toward 
his  predecessor.  He  had  been  for  thirteen  years  Chap- 
lain of  the  school  under  Armstrong,  and  had  relieved  his 
Chief  of  many  of  those  mendicant  journeys  to  the  North, 
which  have  now  cost  both  the  school  and  the  country 
two  precious  lives.  When,  immediately  after  Arm- 
strong's death,  Frissell  was  elected  Principal,  his  first 
impulse — not  followed  as  a  policy  but  obeyed  as  an 
imperative  instinct — was  to  perpetuate  what  his  leader 
had  begun.  "In  spirit,  in  reality,"  he  said  at  Arm- 
strong's funeral,  "he  is  still  with  us,  still  our  Leader, 
our  General."  In  one  of  the  most  appealing  treatises 
of  Christian  literature,  the  Theologia  Germanica,  the 
unknown  and  mediaeval  author  writes  that  he  would 
"fain  be  to  the  Eternal  Goodness  what  his  own  hand 
is  to  a  man."  Something  like  this  confession  was  ex- 
pressed by  the  habitual  yet  unstudied  devotion  of  Fris- 
sell to  his  General.  What  his  own  hand  is  to  a  man, 
he  had  been  and  continued  to  be  to  Armstrong.  Walk- 
ing with  a  friend  one  day  from  an  Anniversary  meeting, 

xix 


INTRODUCTION 

he  was  asked  how  in  the  presence  of  so  distinguished  a 
company  he  could  remain  wholly  self-controlled,  and  in  a 
rare  moment  of  self-disclosure  he  answered:  "I  have 
for  many  years  managed  these  affairs  for  the  General, 
and  it  seems  as  if  I  were  doing  so  still."  Yet  this  com- 
pletely self-subordinating  service  brought  its  legitimate 
reward.  The  generous  self-restraint  which  demanded 
nothing  but  to  fulfil  another's  will,  became  converted 
into  a  new  and  not  less  exceptional  career.  The  power 
to  lead  emerged  from  the  willingness  to  follow.  Firm- 
ness, wisdom,  even  the  gift  of  inspiration,  were  the 
natural  fruits  of  self-forgetfulness.  **My  meat,"  said 
Jesus,  *'is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me,  and  to 
finish  His  work."  Frissell  might  have  made  the  same 
confession  as  he  gave  himself  to  finish  the  work  which 
was  given  him  to  do.  Out  of  consecration  grew  capacity, 
until  at  last,  not  his  teachers  and  pupils  only,  but  a 
widening  circle  of  fellow-workers,  educators,  and  states- 
men, both  in  the  North  and  in  the  South,  became  aware 
that  a  new  leader  was  among  them,  and  pressed  upon 
him  the  most  responsible  opportunities  of  national  service. 
He  who  had  planned  to  be  as  a  hand  is  to  a  man,  became 
through  the  discipline  of  unambitious  service  himself  a 
man  on  whose  counsels  great  enterprises  of  benevolence 
depended,  and  whose  loss  seems  now  as  irreparable  as 
that  of  Armstrong. 

Thus  the  relation  of  Hampton  to  personality  is  no 
longer  with  one,  but  with  two  men.  Two  names,  divid- 
ing between  them  the  period  of  fifty  years  which  is  now 

XX 


INTRODUCTION 

to  be  described,  represent  the  history  of  the  school. 
What  is  to  be  recorded  in  this  volume  as  a  series  of 
events  is  in  large  part  the  story  of  two  lives.  What  in 
other  institutions  would  be  history,  becomes  here  biog- 
raphy. Hampton,  as  has  been  said,  is  a  spiritual  enter- 
prise in  an  industrial  form ;  but  both  the  enterprise  and 
its  form  bear  the  marks  of  personality.  These  young 
men  digging  in  the  fields  or  sweating  at  the  forge ;  these 
young  women  learning  to  wash  or  to  sew;  these  back- 
ward pupils  wrestling  with  spelling  or  arithmetic,  are 
bearers  of  a  great  tradition.  If  this  spiritual  tradition 
should  perish,  there  would  remain  a  well-ordered  school 
of  industrial  training  and  elementary  education,  but  it 
would  cease  to  be  what  Hampton  has  thus  far  been. 
This  tradition  has  drawn  to  the  school  a  long  succession 
of  teachers  whose  compensation  has  been  found  in  con- 
secration, and  whose  service  has  brought  them  perfect 
freedom.  This  is  what  sustains  the  graduates  of  Hamp- 
ton as  they  pass  from  its  sheltering  companionships  to 
the  isolation  of  country  schoolhouses  and  the  racial 
exclusions  of  industrial  life.  Whatever  may  be  left 
unsaid  in  this  book,  this  at  least  must  be  made  manifest 
— that  the  strength  of  Hampton  Institute  is  in  the  per- 
petuation of  this  tradition,  and  its  chief  lesson  that  of 
the  indestructible  efficiency  of  consecrated  lives.  The 
Prophet  Ezekiel  in  his  vision  saw  about  him  a  bewildering 
confusion  of  wheels,  and  of  wheels  in  the  middle  of  wheels. 
Within  the  wheels,  however,  he  discerned  living  creatures  ; 
and  when  the  living  creatures  went,  the  wheels,  he  says, 

xxi 


INTRODUCTION 

went  by  them ;  "for  the  spirit  of  the  living  creatures  was 
in  the  wheels."  That  is  the  scene  which  meets  one  at 
Hampton.  There  are  many  wheels  of  hurrying  activity, 
and  wheels  in  the  middle  of  wheels ;  yet  at  the  heart  of 
all  there  are  memories,  traditions,  examples,  and  when 
the  wheels  go,[they  go  by  these ;  for  the  spirit  of  the  living 
creatures  is  in  the  wheels. 

In  the  following  pages  it  has  been  attempted  to  de- 
tach, so  far  as  practicable,  the  general  sketch  of  the 
story  of  Hampton  from  the  statistical  study  of  its  scope 
and  results,  and  to  reserve  the  careful  enumeration  of 
facts  and  figures  for  a  series  of  Appendices.  The  narra- 
tive itself  may  suffice  for  readers  who  wish  only  a  cursory 
acquaintance  with  the  school  and  its  place  in  American 
civilization;  while  the  serious  student  of  Education  for 
Life  should  consult  the  elaborate  Lists  and  Tables  in 
which  various  members  of  the  Hampton  staff  report 
with  precision  the  changes  in  attendance,  income,  ex- 
penditure, and  other  details  of  administration  which  tell 
the  story  of  fifty  years. 

The  indebtedness  of  the  narrative  itself  to  earlier  pub- 
lications is  indicated  by  the  Bibliography  (Appendix  I). 
In  addition  to  this  printed  material  there  have  been 
generously  provided  for  the  purpose  of  this  book  many 
reminiscences  and  memoranda  of  teachers,  graduates, 
and  friends,  abounding  in  personal  allusions  and  instruc- 
tive suggestions.  Among  these  the  most  considerable 
is  the  manuscript  of  "Indian  Days  at  Hampton"  (104 
xxll 


INTRODUCTION 

typewritten  pages),  in  which  Miss  Cora  M.  Folsom  has 
recalled  many  dramatic  experiences  in  the  course  of  her 
long  and  devoted  service  in  behalf  of  Indian  students. 
For  the  first  period  of  Hampton  Institute  the  corner- 
stone of  its  history  is  the  voluminous  manuscript  of 
"Personal  Memories  and  Letters  of  General  S.  C.  Arm- 
strong," by  Miss  Helen  W.  Ludlow  (1408  typewritten 
pages,  1895),  in  which  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  trusted 
of  Hampton  teachers  has  not  only  collected  the  corre- 
spondence of  her  Chief,  but  added  many  precious  remi- 
niscences of  her  own.  Miss  Ludlow  has  graciously 
permitted  the  use  of  her  material  for  this  volume,  and, 
especially  in  Chapter  III,  it  has  been  copiously  cited. 
Special  mention  should  also  be  made  of  the  biographical 
study  of  General  Armstrong  by  his  daughter,  Edith 
Armstrong  Talbot  (New  York,  1904),  which  enriches  the 
story  with  many  details  touched  with  filial  affection. 
Permission  to  use  this  material  also  has  been  generously 
given.  The  monumental  study  of  Negro  Education, 
made  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  (2  vols.. 
Government  Printing  Office,  191 7),  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  Thomas  Jesse  Jones,  has  appeared  just  in  time  to 
be  utilized ;  and  this  volume,  especially  in  Chapter  XI, 
is  deeply  indebted  to  these  elaborate  and  candid  re- 
searches. They  provide  a  much  needed  and  authorita- 
tive "White  List,"  which  discriminates  between  worthy 
and  undeserving  institutions,  protecting  uninformed  ben- 
efactors from  plausible  mendicants  and  indicating  the 
judicious  uses  of  generosity. 

xxiii 


INTRODUCTION 

The  collection  and  arrangement  of  material  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  following  narrative  has  been  under- 
taken, at  the  request  of  the  late  Principal,  and  with 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  facts  concerned,  by  Miss  J.  E. 
Davis,  in  charge  of  the  Publication  Office  at  Hampton 
Institute,  without  whose  devoted  and  skilful  co-operation 
this  volume  would  not  have  been  attempted  and  could 
hardly  have  been  completed. 


XXIV 


EDUCATION   FOR  LIFE 

THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 


CHAPTER  ONE 

THE  NEGRO  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR  (1861-1865) 

TO  SEE  the  beginnings  of  Hampton  in  a  true  perspective 
it  is  necessary  to  set  them  against  the  dark  background 
of  that  tragic  struggle,  which  is  remembered  at  the  North 
as  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  and  at  the  South  as  the  War 
between  the  States.  That  fratricidal  conflict,  though 
precipitated  by  the  issue  of  slavery,  was  in  its  earlier 
phases  regarded  at  the  North,  not  so  much  as  a  war  to 
free  the  slaves  as  a  war  to  save  the  Union.  On  July 
26,  1 861,  after  the  disaster  of  Bull  Run,  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  by  a  vote  of  30  to  5,  passed  a  Resolution : 
"That  this  war  is  not  prosecuted  upon  our  part  in  any 
spirit  of  oppression,  nor  for  any  purpose  of  conquest  or 
subjugation,  nor  purpose  of  overthrowing  and  interfering 
with  the  rights  and  established  institutions  of  those 
[seceding]  States,  but  to  defend  and  maintain  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Constitution  and  all  laws  made  in  pur- 
suance thereof,  and  to  preserve  the  Union  with  all 
the  dignity,  equality  and  rights  of  the  several  States 
unimpaired ;  that,  as  soon  as  these  advantages  are 
accomplished,  the  war  ought  to  cease."  *     "A   mention 


*  Congr.  Globe,  37th  Congress,  ist  Session,  p.  257. 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

of  slavery,"  the  historian  of  this  epoch  affirms,  "would 
at  once  have  given  rise  to  partisan  contentions."  * 

Of  President  Lincoln's  personal  convictions  he  had 
for  many  years  given  ample  testimony.  As  early  as 
1842  he  wrote:  "I  have  just  told  the  folks  here  in 
Springfield  that  the  one  victory  we  can  ever  call  complete 
will  be  that  one  which  proclaims  that  there  is  not  one 
slave  or  one  drunkard  on  the  face  of  God's  green  earth." 
Again,  in  1858,  in  the  course  of  the  debate  with  Douglas, 
Lincoln  said  :  **I  confess  myself  as  belonging  to  that  class 
in  the  country  which  contemplates  slavery  as  a  moral, 
social,  and  political  evil,  and  looks  hopefully  to  the  time 
when,  as  a  wrong,  it  may  come  to  an  end."  Still  again, 
in  a  letter  of  April  1864,  he  said  :  "I  am  naturally  anti- 
slavery.  If  slavery  is  not  wrong,  nothing  is  wrong.  I 
cannot  remember  when  I  did  not  so  think  and  feel."  f 
Yet  when  the  grave  responsibilities  of  administration  were 
laid  upon  him,  this  ardent  abolitionist  was  able  to  restrain 
his  desire,  and  postpone  the  problem  of  slavery  until  he 
had  dealt  with  the  more  immediate  problem  of  an  un- 
divided Nation.  "I  have  never  understood,"  he  writes 
in  the  same  letter  of  1864,  "that  the  Presidency  conferred 
upon  me  an  unrestricted  right  to  act  upon  this  judgment 
and  feeling.  ...  I  did  understand  that  my  oath  to 
preserve  the  Constitution  to  the  best  of  my  ability  im- 
plied in  me  the  duty  of  preserving  by  every  indispensable 
means  that  government   and  that  nation  of  which  that 

*  J.  F.  Rhodes,  "  History  of  the  Civil  War,"    1917,  p.  35. 

t  Complete  Works,  ed.  Nicolay  and  Hay,  1894;  I,  192;  IV,  276;  X,  65. 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Constitution  was  the  organic  law.  ...  I  could  not  feel 
that  to  the  best  of  my  ability  I  had  even  tried  to  preserve 
the  Constitution  if  to  save  slavery,  or  any  minor  matter^ 
I  should  permit  the  wreck  of  government,  country,  and 
Constitution  altogether."  Still  more  explicitly  and  elo- 
quently Lincoln  wrote  to  Horace  Greeley:  "My  para- 
mount object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the  Union;  and 
is  not  either  to  save  or  to  destroy  slavery.  If  I  could 
save  the  Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it ; 
and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  all  the  slaves,  I  would  do 
it ;  and  if  I  could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving 
others  alone,  I  would  also  do  that."  With  unfailing 
patience  and  persistent  magnanimity  Lincoln  stood 
unmoved  between  the  insults  of  radicals  and  the  re- 
proaches of  conservatives.  On  the  one  hand  he  was 
assailed  by  Wendell  Phillips  as  "the  slave-hound  from 
Illinois  "  ;  and  on  the  other  hand  by  McClellan,  who  wrote 
that  "a  declaration  of  radical  views,  especially  upon 
slavery,  will  rapidly  disintegrate  our  armies."  * 

Yet  Lincoln  was  but  waiting  until  public  sentiment 
should  overtake  his  own  desire.  A  compensated  and 
gradual  emancipation  seemed  to  him  at  first  as  radical  a 
measure  as  was  likely  to  commend  itself.  On  March  6, 
1 862,  he  therefore  recommended  to  Congress  the  passage  of 
a  Resolution  :  "That  the  United  States  ought  to  co-oper- 
ate with  any  State  which  may  adopt  gradual  aboHshment 
of  slavery,  giving  to  such  State  pecuniary  aid  to  be  used 
by  such  State  in  its  discretion  to  compensate  for  the 

*G.  F.  Merriam,  "The  Negro  and  the  Nation,"  1906,   pp.  254,  255. 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

inconveniences,  public  and  private,  produced  by  such 
change  of  system."  *  This  Resolution,  though  adopted 
in  March  by  the  House  of  Representatives  (99-36), 
and  in  April  by  the  Senate  (32-10),  failed  of  concurrent 
action  by  any  of  the  States  concerned  ;  and  in  July,  at  a 
conference  with  representatives  of  the  Border  States, 
Lincoln  told  them  :  "In  my  opinion,  if  you  all  had  voted 
for  the  resolution  in  the  gradual  emancipation  message 
of  last  March,  the  war  would  now  be  substantially 
ended."  f 

Appeal  to  the  States  having  thus  proved  fruitless, 
the  same  project  of  compensated  emancipation  was  pro- 
posed by  Lincoln  to  his  Cabinet  as  a  war-measure. 
Pecuniary  aid,  he  suggested,  might  be  offered  to  those 
States  which  should  voluntarily  undertake  gradual  action, 
while  in  such  States  as  still  defied  the  authority  of  the 
National  Government  an  uncompensated  emancipation 
might  be  proclaimed.  Even  then  but  two  members  of 
the  Cabinet — Stanton  and  Bates — concurred  with  their 
Chief;  and  Lincoln,  accepting  Seward's  view  that  the 
moment  was  inopportune,  waited  until  military  victory 
should  re-enforce  his  judgment.  On  September  22,  1862, 
however,  at  that  extraordinary  Cabinet  meeting  when 
Lincoln  first  read  aloud  a  chapter  from  the  professional 
humorist    known    as   Artemus   Ward,  J    as    though -the 


*  Congr.  Globe,  37th  Congress,  2d  Session,  p.  1102. 

t  J.  Z.  George,  "  Polit.  Hist,  of  Slavery  in  the  United  States,"  1915,  p.  104. 
X  The  passage,  so  moderate  in  wit  as  to  justify  Stanton  in  declining  to  laugh 
with  the  rest,  is  preserved  in  Rhodes,  "History  of  the  Civil  War,"  p.  173. 

6 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

tension  of  his  emotion  must  be  relaxed  or  his  self-control 
broken,  he  utilized  the  retreat  of  the  Southern  forces 
from  Maryland  as  the  occasion  for  definite  decision.  "I 
said  nothing  to  any  one,"  he  remarked,  "but  I  made  the 
promise  to  myself  and  my  Maker."  In  a  Proclamation 
issued  that  day  he  announced  his  purpose  of  advising 
Congress  to  tender  pecuniary  aid  to  such  States  as  were 
"not  then  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  and 
which  States  may  then  have  voluntarily  adopted,  or 
thereafter  may  voluntarily  adopt,  the  immediate  or 
gradual  abolishment  of  slavery  within  their  respective 
limits ;  and  that  the  effort  to  colonize  persons  of  African 
descent  with  their  consent  upon  the  continent  or  elsewhere 
.  .  .  will  be  continued ;  that  on  the  first  day  of  January 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1863  all  persons  held  as  slaves  with- 
in any  State  or  any  designated  part  of  a  State,  the  people 
whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States 
shall  be  thenceforward  and  forever  free."  "The  way,"  he 
said  of  this  proposal,  "is  plain,  peaceful,  generous,  just, — 
a  way  which,  if  followed,  the  world  will  forever  applaud, 
and  God  must  forever  bless." 

Following  the  way  thus  opened  and  accurately  described 
as  generous  and  just,  Lincoln  soon  accepted  as  President 
full  responsibility;  and,  on  January  i,  1863,  issued  his 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  justifying  it  in  solemn  terms  : 
"by  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  as  Commander-in- 
Chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States  in  time 
of  actual  armed  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  and  as  a  fit  and  necessary 

7 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

war-measure  for  the  suppression  of  said  rebellion,"  and  de- 
claring the  slaves  in  eight  Southern  States  and  the  greater 
portion  of  two  others  as  "henceforward  free."  "And 
upon  this  act,"  concluded  the  epoch-making  document, 
"sincerely  beheved  to  be  an  act  of  justice,  warranted  by 
the  situation  upon  military  necessity,  I  invoke  the  con- 
siderate judgment  of  mankind  and  the  gracious  favor 
of  Almighty  God." 

Even  at  this  point  the  patience  of  Lincoln  did  not  fail. 
As  late  as  February  1865  he  consented  to  meet  three 
Commissioners  of  the  Confederacy  on  board  a  vessel 
near  Fortress  Monroe,  and  to  consider  with  them  the 
possible  terms  which  might  induce  the  South  to  surrender. 
He  urged  on  them  the  fruitlessness  of  further  strjfe,  and 
the  probable  willingness  of  the  North  to  remunerate 
Southern  slave-owners  for  their  loss  of  property.  He 
even  intimated  that  he  should  personally  be  in  favor  of 
a  grant  of  not  less  than  ^400,000,0x30  for  this  purpose. 
Undeterred  by  the  stubborn  opposition  of  the  Southern 
delegates,  Lincoln  returned  to  Washington  and  on  the 
next  day  drafted  and  submitted  to  his  Cabinet  a  Mes- 
sage, which  he  proposed  to  send  to  Congress,  embodying 
the  propositions  which  he  had  informally  made,  rec- 
ommending the  payment  to  the  Southern  States  of 
$400,000,000,  in  six  per  cent  Government  Bonds,  being 
his  estimate  of  the  cost  of  two  hundred  days  of  war, — 
"to  be  distributed  among  such  States  pro  rata  on  their 
respective  slave-population  as  shown  by  the  Census  of 
i860,"  the  payment  to  be  dependent  on  the  "ceasing 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

of  all  resistance  to  the  national  authority  on  April  ist." 
"Is  there  in  history,"  asks  the  historian,  "another  in- 
stance of  such  magnanimity  to  a  beaten  foe  ?  An  infinite 
pity  moves  this  great  heart,  that  deigns  not  to  exult, 
but  sinks  all  pride  of  success  in  an  effort  to  enter  into  the 
feelings  of  those  who  have  lost."  * 

Not  a  single  member  of  the  Cabinet  concurred  in  this 
magnanimous  proposal;  but,  undeterred  by  unanimous 
opposition,  Lincoln  reaffirmed  in  his  Second  Inaugural 
Address  of  March  4th  the  same  generous  hope,  fortifying 
it  with  that  determined  and  glowing  climax  which  is  the 
supreme  utterance  of  the  great  Emancipator :  "  Fondly 
do  we  hope,  fervently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty 
scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if  God  wills 
that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  up  by  the 
bondsman's  three  hundred  years  of  unrequited  toil  shall 
be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  lash 
shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  by  the  sword,  as  was 
said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said  : 
*The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  al- 
together,'" Here  was,  indeed,  as  Lowell  sang  in  his 
Commemoration  Ode : — 

"The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American." 

This  patient,  yet  resolute,  action  of  the  Executive, 
though  defensible  as  a  war-measure,  needed  confirmation 

*  Rhodes,  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  1904,  V,  82. 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

by  Constitutional  Amendment  before  it  could  become  a 
permanent  principle  of  National  life.  The  final  step  was, 
however,  not  taken  without  many  hindrances  and  delays. 
In  April  1864,  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  secured  the 
necessary  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Senate  (38-6),  but  failed 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  (95-66).  In  the  follow- 
ing year,  the  re-election  of  Lincoln  having  revived  the 
confidence  of  the  North,  the  Amendment  received  the 
necessary  two-thirds  (115-56),  though  with  a  margin  of 
but  three  votes.  At  last,  on  December  18,  1865,  twenty- 
seven  States  out  of  thirty-six  having  voted  for  confirma- 
tion, the  Secretary  of  State  certified  "that  the  amendment 
aforesaid  has  become  valid,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
as  a  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States"  ;  and 
from  that  day  it  became  the  law  of  the  land  that  "neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a  punishment 
for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  con- 
victed, shall  exist  within  the  United  States  or  any  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction." 

Such  was  the  external  course  of  events  which  culminated 
in  legal  and  permanent  enfranchisement.  And,  mean- 
time, what  were  the  circumstances  and  prospects  of  the 
four  millions  of  Negroes,  on  whom  this  bewildering  gift 
of  freedom  had  been  so  hesitatingly,  yet  in  the  end  so 
unqualifiedly,  bestowed  ?  The  vast  majority  of  the  race 
were  for  the  moment  too  abject  in  condition  to  have  any 
realizing  sense  of  the  new  world  which  they  were  abruptly 
called  to  enter.  They  had  been  so  governed  and  driven 
that  they  had  become  little  more  than  patient  and  docile 

ID 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

animals,  expecting  no  change  of  lot,  proceeding  with  their 
toil  even  when  they  might  abandon  it,  and  solacing  them- 
selves with  picturesque  imaginings  of  a  freedom  which 
might  be  theirs  in  heaven.  In  April  1865,  just  after  the 
fall  of  Richmond,  William  Lloyd  Garrison  sailed  for 
Charleston  to  participate  in  the  ceremony  of  raising  the 
National  flag  at  Fort  Sumter  on  the  fourth  anniversary 
of  its  surrender.  He  used  this  opportunity  to  visit  the 
camp  of  the  Fifty-fifth  Massachusetts  Regiment,  where  his 
son  was  in  service,  and  found  gathered  there  twelve  hun- 
dred plantation  slaves,  whom  his  son's  company  had  just 
convoyed  from  the  interior  to  the  coast.  "Well,  my 
friends,"  said  Mr.  Garrison  to  these  Negroes,  *'you  are 
free  at  last ;  let  us  give  three  cheers  for  freedom  !"  "To 
his  amazement  there  was  no  response ;  the  poor  creatures 
looked  at  him  in  wonder;  they  did  not  know  how  to 
cheer."  * 

Pitiful,  however,  as  was  this  lethargy  of  mind  and 
will  into  which  great  numbers  had  sunk  under  the 
blight  of  slavery,  there  were  two  respects  in  which  those 
who  prophesied  evil  as  likely  to  follow  emancipation 
were  soon  to  be  disappointed.  By  some  alarmists  it  was 
anticipated  that  the  freedmen  would  at  once  wreak 
vengeance  on  their  old  masters,  and  that  a  reign  of  terror 
would  ensue.  By  some  sceptics  it  was  believed,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  hope  of  re-enforcing  the  Northern 
armies  by  the  enlistment  of  Negroes  would  prove  futile 

♦"William  Lloyd  Garrison,  The  Story  of  His  Life,"  1885-1889,  IV,  p. 
149. 

II 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  that  slaves  could  not  be  transformed  into  soldiers. 
Neither  of  these  discouraging  prophecies  was  verified. 
No  incident  of  the  war  was  more  surprising  or  touching 
than  the  loyalty  of  Negroes  to  their  former  masters, 
even  when  compulsion  could  no  longer  be  enforced  or 
compensation  be  proposed.  "No  race,"  a  thoroughly 
informed  Southerner  has  recorded,  "ever  behaved  better 
than  the  Negroes  behaved  during  the  war.  Not  only 
were  there  no  massacres  and  no  outbreaks,  but  even  the 
amount  of  defection  was  not  large.  .  .  .  Many  a  master 
going  off  to  the  war  entrusted  his  wife  and  children  to  the 
care  of  his  servants  with  as  much  confidence  as  if  they 
had  been  of  his  own  blood.  They  acted  rather  like  clans- 
men than  like  bondsmen.  .  .  .  They  were  the  faithful 
guardiahs  of  their  masters'  homes  and  families ;  the 
trusted  agents  and  the  shrewd  counsellors  of  their  mis- 
tresses. .  .  .  For  years  after  the  war  the  older  Negroes, 
men  and  women,  remained  the  faithful  guardians  of  the 
white  women  and  children  of  their  masters'  families.  .  .  . 
As  Henry  Grady  once  said :  *A  thousand  torches  would 
have  disbanded  the  Southern  army,  but  there  was  not 
one.'"  *  In  February  1866,  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
addressing  the  Legislature  of  Georgia,  gave  similar 
testimony.  "Consider,"  he  said,  "their  [the  Negroes'l 
fidelity  in  the  past.  They  cultivated  your  fields, 
ministered  to  your  personal  wants  and  comforts,  reared 
and  cared  for  your  children;    and  even  in  the  hour  of 

*  Thomas  Nelson   Page,  "  The  Negro  the  Southerner's  Problem,"  1904, 
p.  21  ff. 

12 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

danger  and  peril  they  were  in  the  main  true  to  you  and 
yours.  .  .  .  To  them  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  as 
well  as  acts  of  kindness."  * 

This  extraordinary  relationship  of  persistent  fidelity 
has  been  cited  as  evidence  that  the  institution  of  slavery 
was  not  in  practice  so  shocking  as  Northern  critics,  have 
assumed  it  to  be ;  and  it  undoubtedly  presents  a  pic- 
ture of  household  feudalism  in  many  Southern  homes 
which  is  not  without  charm.  The  retainers  of  a  family 
of  planters,  where  Negro  men  were  body-servants,  and 
Negro  women  had  tended  the  children  of  their  masters, 
were  often  treated  without  severity  and  not  infre- 
quently with  affection  and  indulgence ;  and  their  child- 
like natures  clung  to  their  feudal  lords.  When,  how- 
ever, one  turns  from  this  domestic  intimacy,  and  recalls 
the  vastly  greater  number  of  slaves  whose  work  was 
in  the  fields,  whose  immediate  master  was  the  overseer, 
and  whose  obedience  was  enforced  by  the  lash,  it  is 
certainly  an  astonishing  fact  that  liberty  did  not  bring 
with  it  license,  and  that  servile  insurrections  did  not 
devastate  the  South.  Whatever  this  fact  may  testify 
concerning  the  kindly  paternalism  of  many  Southern 
homes,  it  is  a  much  more  impressive  testimony  to  the 
patience,  gentleness,  and  freedom  from  vindictiveness 
which  characterized  the  Negro  race.  Many  of  the  more 
venturesome  spirits,  it  is  true,  had  already  escaped  from 
bondage  by  the  tortuous  and  perilous  routes  of  the  Under- 
ground  Railroad ;    and  many,  when  freedom  was  pro- 

*  Rhodes,  op,  cii.,  V,  p.  560. 

13 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

claimed,  took  refuge  from  their  sad  lot  within  the 
Northern  Hnes;  but  the  vast  majority  of  Negroes  re- 
mained at  their  servile  tasks  and  persisted  in  unbroken 
attachment  to  their  dispossessed  masters. 

The  most  extraordinary  evidence  of  this  childlike 
loyalty  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact,  which  has  been  almost 
overlooked  in  Northern  annals  of  the  war,  that  the  first 
enlistment  of  Negroes  in  military  service  occurred,  not  in 
the  Northern  armies,  but  in  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy. 
As  early  as  i86i  recruiting  offices  were  opened  in  Nashville 
and  Memphis  for  "free  people  of  color,"  and  in  November 
of  that  year  a  regiment  of  fourteen  hundred  colored  men 
paraded  in  New  Orleans.*  In  June  1861  the  Legislature 
of  Tennessee  authorized  the  Governor  "to  receive  into  the 
military  service  of  the  State  all  male  free  persons  of  color 
between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and  fifty,  who  shall  receive 
eight  dollars  per  month,  clothing,  and  rations."  Incon- 
ceivable as  it  may  appear  that  Negroes  should  voluntarily 
rally  to  defend  a  social  order  from  which,  often  by  their 
own  purchase-money,  they  had  made  themselves  free,  the 
instincts  of  serfdom  conspired  with  the  terror  of  North- 
ern barbarians  to  encourage  this  allegiance;  and  while 
these  recruits  were  seldom  trusted  in  the  front  of  battle, 
they  proved  efficient  allies  in  the  digging  of  entrench- 
ments, the  bringing  up  of  supplies,  and  the  performance  of 
the  more  menial  duties  of  a  soldier's  life. 

During  the  last  phases  of  the  war  Southern  leaders 
turned  with  even  more  confidence  to  this  possibility  of 

*  J.  T.  Wilson,  "The  Black  Phalanx,"  1888,  p.  481. 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

arming   the   Negroes.     In   a   message  of  November   7, 

1864,  President  Davis  said:  "Should  the  alternative 
ever  be  presented  of  subjugation  or  of  the  employment 
of  the  slave  as  a  soldier,  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt 
what  would  then  be  our  decision";   and  on  January  11, 

1865,  General  Lee  declared  his  concurrence  with  this 
view,  "I  think  we  must  decide,"  he  wrote,  "whether 
slavery  shall  be  extinguished  by  our  enemies  and  the 
slaves  be  used  against  us,  or  use  them  ourselves  at  the 
risk  of  the  effects  which  may  be  produced  upon  our 
social  institutions.  My  opinion  is  that  we  should  em- 
ploy them  without  delay.  .  .  .  We  should  grant  im- 
mediate freedom  to  all  who  enlist,  and  freedom  at  the 
end  of  the  war  to  the  families  of  those  who  discharged 
their  duties  faithfully."  In  February  1865  the  Senate 
of  the  Confederacy  defeated  by  a  single  vote  the  pro- 
posal to  enlist  200,000  Negroes  in  the  army ;  and  hear- 
ing of  this  discussion,  Lincoln  playfully  remarked  :  "As 
theylieed  but  one  vote,  I  should  be  glad  to  send  my 
vote  through  the  lines  to  help  them  out."  The  proposal 
was  indeed  a  counsel  of  despair.  The  logic  of  the  case 
was  more  clearly  stated  by  Howell  Cobb,  who  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war  owned  one  thousand  Negroes,  and 
who  wrote :  "The  day  you  make  soldiers  of  them  is  the 
beginning  of  the  end  of  the  revolution.  If  slaves  make 
good  soldiers  our  whole  theory  of  slavery  is  wrong";  * 
and  by  the  remarks  of  Senator  Hunter,  whose  vote  de- 
feated the  Negro-enlistment  bill:    "If  we  are  right  in 

*  Rhodes,  "History  of  the  Civil  War,"  1917,  p,  417. 

IS 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

passing  this  measure  we  are  wrong  in  denying  to  the  old 
government  the  right  to  emancipate  slaves.  If  we 
offer  the  slaves  their  freedom  as  a  boon  we  confess  that 
we  are  insincere  and  hypocritical  in  saying  that  slavery 
was  the  best  state  for  the  Negroes  themselves.  I  believe 
that  arming  and  emancipating  the  slaves  will  be  an 
abandonment  of  the  contest.  To  arm  the  Negroes  is  to 
give  them  freedom."  It  was,  as  a  clerk  of  the  Confederate 
Government  wrote  in  his  diary,  "a  desperate  remedy  for 
a  desperate  case."  * 

If,  however,  the  instincts  of  servitude  proved  so  strong 
that  the  Negroes  not  only  remained  loyal  to  their  masters, 
but  even  enlisted  in  that  cause  whose  success  would  perpet- 
uate their  servitude,  what,  on  the  other  hand,  could  be 
expected  of  them  as  recruits  for  the  Northern  armies  ? 
If  they  would  not  rise  in  insurrection,  would  they  fight 
even  for  their  own  liberty  ?  Had  not  their  tropical  in- 
dolence and  the  habits  of  slavery  robbed  them  of  courage, 
endurance,  and  daring .?  Would  they  not  prove  un- 
disciplined, intractable,  and  cowardly  soldiers  ?  It  is 
a  curious  and  surprising  fact  that  while  the  sentiment  of 
the  South  became  steadily  more  inclined  to  utilize  Negroes 
in  army-service,  the  same  proposition,  which  might  appear 
logical  and  expedient  for  a  Government  pledged  to  emanci- 
pation, was  approached  with  great  reluctance  and  against 
repeated  protests,  at  the  North.  An  honored  citizen  of 
Massachusetts,  Colonel  Henry  Lee,  in  his  Address  at  the 
dedication  of  the  Shaw  Monument  in  Boston,  spoke  of  the 

*  Wilson,  op.  cit.,  p.  494. 
16 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

"antipathy  and  incredulity  of  the  army  and  the  public 
at  the  employment  of  colored  men  as  soldiers,"  and  re- 
ported Lincoln  as  saying  to  Grant:  "I  was  opposed  on 
nearly  every  side  when  I  first  favored  the  raising  of  colored 
regiments."  *  In  the  spring  of  1862  General  Hunter, 
commanding  the  Department  of  the  South,  "of  his  own 
motion  and  without  any  direct  authority  of  law,"  enlisted 
a  regiment  of  black  troops,  and  when  called  to  account 
for  accepting  "fugitive  slaves"  as  recruits,  replied  that 
no  such  persons  were  to  be  found  in  his  force,  but  that 
he  had  "a  fine  regiment  of  men  whose  late  masters  were 
fugitive  rebels,"  and  that  "  the  experiment  of  arming  the 
blacks,  so  far  as  I  have  made  it,  has  been  a  complete  and 
even  marvelous  success."  This  resolute  action  was, 
however,  repudiated  by  the  National  Government,  and 
violently  denounced  in  the  Northern  press,  f 

The  hesitating  attitude  of  the  North  was  confronted  by 
undisguised  and  violent  threats  from  the  South,  where  the 
enlistment  of  Negroes  at  the  North  was  not  unreasonably 
regarded  as  a  most  alarming  omen.  Such  recruits,  it 
was  soon  declared,  would  not  be  regarded  as  legitimate 
members  of  the  Northern  armies,  but  as  slaves  defying 
the  law,  whose  officers  should  be  dealt  with  as  instigators 
of  lawlessness.  On  May  i,  1863,  a  Joint  Resolution  was 
adopted  by  the  Confederate  Congress  to  the  effect  that 
**  Every  white   person,   being   a  commissioned   officer  or 


*  "The  Monument  to  Robert  Gould  Shaw,"    1897,  p.  58. 
t  Wilson,  op.  cit.,  p.  146.     T.  W.  Higginson,  "  Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regi- 
ment," Appendix  B. 

17 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

acting  as  such,  who  during  the  present  war  shall  command 
Negroes  or  mulattoes  in  arms  against  the  Confederate 
States,  or  who  shall  arm,  train,  organize,  or  prepare 
Negroes  or  mulattoes  for  military  service  against  the 
Confederate  States,  or  who  shall  volunteer  aid  to  Negroes 
or  mulattoes  in  any  military  enterprise,  attack,  or  con- 
flict in  such  service,  shall  be  deemed  as  exciting  insurrec- 
tion, and  shall,  if  captured,  be  put  to  death  or  otherwise 
punished  at  the  discretion  of  the  Court."  "Officers  who 
undertook  this  duty  entered  it" — as  Colonel  Higginson 
remarked,  "with  ropes  round  our  necks";  *  and  Negroes 
who  served  under  them  were  liable  to  be  hung,  shot,  or 
returned  to  slavery. 

Yet  neither  anticipations  of  incapacity  nor  threats  of 
vengeance  could  check  the  enlistment  of  Negroes  in  the 
Northern  cause.  In  August  1862,  General  Butler  re- 
cruited in  New  Orleans  three  regiments  and  two  batteries 
of  artillery  from  free  Negroes,  and  reported  them  as 
"inteUigent,  obedient,  highly  appreciating  their  position, 
and  fully  maintaining  its  dignity."  f  In  November  1862, 
General  Saxton,  at  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  organized 
the  First  Regiment  of  South  Carolina  Volunteers,  and 
gave  the  command  of  this  Negro  force  to  Colonel  T.  W, 
Higginson  of  the  Fifty-first  Massachusetts  Regiment, 
who  affirms  that  his  regiment  "was  unquestionably  the 
first  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United  States."  % 


*  Higginson,  op.  cit.,  p.  267. 

t  Booker  T.  Washington,  "The  Story  of  the  Negro,"  1909;  I,  p.  321. 

X  Higginson,  op.  cit..  Appendix  B. 

18 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

In  January  1863  the  First  Kansas  Colored  Regiment  was 
mustered  in,  and  on  January  26,  1863,  the  Secretary  of 
War  authorized  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  to  raise 
two  Negro  regiments  from  that  State. 

The  record  of  these  and  many  later  enlistments  is  one 
of  the  miracles  of  military  history.  What  had  appeared 
to  many  observers  a  hopelessly  submissive  race,  incapable 
of  discipline,  and  tempted  to  savagery,  provided  a  body 
of  troops  which  was  not  only  of  unquestioned  courage  in 
battle,  but  self-restrained  both  in  victory  and  among  the 
more  insidious  temptations  of  camp  life.  There  were  en- 
rolled in  the  Northern  armies  187,000  Negroes,  70,000  of 
whom  were  killed  or  wounded,  and  these  recruits  partici- 
pated in  not  less  than  two  hundred  engagements.  "No 
troops,"  General  Banks  reported  after  the  siege  of  Port 
Hudson,  "could  be  more  determined  or  more  daring." 
"By  arming  the  Negro,"  Grant  wrote  to  Lincoln  in 
1863,  "we  have  added  a  powerful  ally;  they  will  make 
good  soldiers."  * 

Evidences  of  this  ejSiciency  multiplied  as  enlist- 
ment proceeded.  The  white  Colonel  of  the  Fourteenth 
United  States  Colored  Infantry,  being  asked  in  1864  by 
his  commanding  General  whether  he  thought   the  Ne- 

*  Rhodes,  V,  pp.  333-336.  (An  extended  foot-note  of  corroborative  testi- 
mony.) Dana  to  Stanton,  June  10,  1863:  "*  It  is  impossible,'  says  General 
Dennis,  '  for  men  to  show  greater  gallantry  than  the  Negro  troops  in  this  fight. 
[Milliken's  Bend.]'  Grant  to  Halleck,  July  24,  1863:  'The  Negro  troops  are 
easier  to  preserve  discipline  among  than  our  white  troops,  and  I  doubt  not  will 
prove  equally  good  for  garrison  duty.  All  that  have  been  tried  have  fought 
bravely.'  Lincoln  to  Grant,  August  9,  1863  :  *  I  believe  it  is  a  resource  which, 
if  vigorously  applied  now,  will  soon  end  this  contest.'" 

19 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

groes  would  fight,  asked  for  a  chance  to  prove  them, 
and  soon,  at  the  battle  of  Nashville,  black  men  and  white 
fell  side  by  side.  **As  General  Thomas  and  staff  rode 
over  the  field  after  the  battle,  and  looked  upon  the  fallen 
black  soldiers,  he  said  to  his  officers :  'The  question  is 
settled.  Negro  soldiers  will  fight.'"*  On  September 
29,  1864,  the  Seventh  Regiment  of  United  States  Colored 
Troops  was  ordered  to  attack  Fort  Gilmer  near  Richmond, 
and  advanced  without  hesitation  to  the  assault,  although 
convinced  that  the  position  was  impregnable.  "Upon 
arriving  at  the  ditch  there  was  no  wavering,  but  every  man 
jumped  into  the  trap  from  which  but  one  man  returned 
that  day.  .  .  .  Four  companies  annihilated,  70  killed, 
no  wounded,  and  129  missing,  tells  the  story  of  Fort 
Gilmer.  Upon  arriving  at  Libby  Prison  the  officer  in 
charge  asked  the  Commander  of  our  Guard  whether  the 
'niggers'  would  fight.  His  answer  was:  *By  God,  if 
you  had  been  there  you  would  have  thought  so.  They 
marched  up  just  as  if  they  had  been  on  drill.'"  f  Again, 
in  a  battle  at  Dalton,  Georgia,  General  Steedman  ex- 
pressed some  apprehension  lest  the  Fourteenth  United 
States  Infantry  of  Colored  Troops  should  break,  and  one 
of  his  aides  reported  :  "The  Negro  regiment  is  holding 
dress-parade  over  there  under  fire."  J  Indeed,  these 
fresh  allies  soon  became,  in  Lincoln's  judgment,  an 
essential  factor  in  the  determination  of  the  war.     "The 


*  T.  J.  Morgan,  "  The  Negro  in  America,"  1898,  p.  66. 

t  Southern  Workman,  Nov.  1878,  p.  86. 

X  K.  Coman,  in  Southern  Workman,  Dec.  1898. 


20 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

slightest  knowledge  of  arithmetic,"  he  said,  "will  prove 
to  any  man  that  the  rebel  armies  cannot  be  destroyed 
with  Democratic  strategy.  It  would  sacrifice  all  the 
white  men  of  the  North  to  do  it.  There  are  now  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States  near  two  hundred  thou- 
sand able-bodied  colored  men.  .  .  .  Abandon  all  the 
posts  now  garrisoned  by  black  men,  take  two  hundred 
thousand  men  from  our  side  and  put  them  in  the  battle- 
field or  corn-field  against  us,  and  we  would  be  compelled 
to  abandon  the  war  in  three  weeks."  *  "The  Negro 
soldier,"  said  a  Confederate  general  on  his  return  from 
Appomattox,  "was  the  winning  card  of  the  Union 
Army."  f 

The  dramatic  climax  of  this  story  of  soldierliness  was 
reached  in  the  heroism  of  the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts 
Regiment,  and  the  martyrdom  of  its  Colonel,  Robert 
Gould  Shaw.  It  is  a  story  which  has  been  eloquently  told, 
both  in  prose  and  verse,  and  which  is  commemorated  in 
monumental  bronze ;  but  it  cannot  be  repeated  too  often. 
This  youth  of  but  twenty-five  years,  just  married,  and 
serving  as  a  Captain  in  the  Second  Massachusetts  Regi- 
ment, was  summoned  by  Governor  Andrew  in  1863  to 
take  command  of  the  first  Regiment  of  Negro  troops 
enlisted  at  the  North.  He  was,  as  his  friend  William 
James  said,  "a  blue-eyed  child  of  fortune,  upon  whose 
happy  youth  every  divinity  had  smiled.  .  .  .  The  grace 
of  nature  was  united  in  h'im  in  the  happiest  way  with  a 

♦  Du  Bois,  "The  Negro,"  1915,  p.  204. 

t  S.  C.  Armstrong,  in  Southern  Workman,  Jan.  1884. 

21 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

filial  heart  and  a  judgment  that  was  true  and  fair."  *  He 
had  hardly  arrived  with  his  untried  recruits  at  the 
front  in  South  Carolina  when  they  were  ordered  to  lead  a 
charge,  which  proved  to  be  hopeless,  on  Fort  Wagner 
near  Charleston.  Two-thirds  of  the  officers  and  nearly 
one-half  of  the  men  fell,  and  Shaw  himself  died  on  the 
parapet  of  the  Fort.  "The  Negroes  fought  gallantly," 
a  Confederate  officer  was  magnanimous  enough  to 
report,  "and  were  headed  by  as  brave  a  Colonel  as  ever 
lived." 

"Right  in  the  van. 
On  the  red  rampart's  slippery  swell. 
With  heart  that  beat  a  charge,  he  fell, 
Foeward,  as  befits  a  man."  f 

"His  body,"  said  his  eulogist,  "was  flung  with  those 
of  his  black  soldiers  into  a  common  trench,  and  the  sand 
shovelled  over  them  without  a  stake  or  stone  to  signalize 
the  spot.  In  death  as  in  life  the  Fifty-fourth  were  witness 
to  the  brotherhood  of  man."  "We  would  not,"  wrote 
Shaw's  father,  "have  the  burial  elsewhere  if  we  could." 
On  the  monument  it  is  written  of  the  Negroes  who  followed 
Shaw,  that  they  "volunteered  when  desertion  clouded 
the  Union  cause,  served  without  pay  for  eighteen  months 
till  given  that  of  white  troops,  faced  threatening  enslave- 
ment if  captured,  were  brave  in  action,  patient  under 
heavy  and  dangerous  labor,  and  cheerful  amid  hardships 


*  William  James,  "  Memories  and  Studies,"  191 1,  pp.  37  ff. 

t  From  the  verses  of  J.  R.  Lowell,  inscribed  on  the  Shaw  Monument. 


22 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

and  privations.  They  gave  to  the  nations  of  the  world 
undying  proof  that  Americans  of  African  descent 
possessed  the  pride,  courage,  and  devotion  of  the  patriot 
soldier."  * 

Such,  then,  was  the  race  which  was  abruptly  bidden 
to  take  its  place  in  the  ranks  of  American  citizenship. 
It  was,  for  the  most  part,  illiterate,  backward,  and  dis- 
heartened. The  docility  which  had  kept  it  loyal  to  its 
former  masters  might  easily  be  misled  by  false  friends, 
and  was  soon  to  be  exploited  by  scheming  adventurers ; 
the  habits  of  slavery  had  discouraged  self-reliance,  per- 
sistency, and  initiative ;  false  notions  of  liberty  had  en- 
couraged the  childlike  impression  that  freedom  meant 
freedom  from  work.  Yet  with  all  these  native  and 
inbred  deficiencies,  the  conduct  of  the  Negroes  through 
the  critical  years  of  war,  whether  as  workers  or  as  sol- 
diers, had  demonstrated  that  there  were  racial  qualities 
on  which  a  firm  civilization  could  be  safely,  even  if 
slowly,  built.  Teachableness,  gratitude,  absence  of  re- 
sentment and  animosity,  a  rare  gift  of  playfulness  and 
humor,  and  above  all  a  dominant  strain  of  genuine, 
even  if  emotional,  religion, — these  were  traits  which 
had  in  them  great  possibilities  both  of  character  and  of 
capacity.  A  race  which  had  remained  loyal  even  to 
slave-owners  might  be  trusted  to  exhibit  similar  loyalty 
to  teachers  and  friends ;    a  race  which  had  been  brave 


*  The  inscription  is  the  tribute  of  President  Charles  W.  Eliot.  Further 
details  concerning  Shaw  and  his  regiment  are  given  by  W.  A.  Sinclair,  "The 
Aftermath  of  Slavery,"  1905,  pp.  24  ff. 

23 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

enough  to  make  good  soldiers  might  be  wilHng  to  wrestle 
with  the  rudiments  of  education ;  a  race  which  was  es- 
sentially religious  might  be  led  to  develop  an  unstable 
and  intermittent  piety  into  a  rational  and  ethical  faith. 
The  time  had  come  to  which  Lincoln  had  looked  for- 
ward, but  which  he  was  not  permitted  to  see,  when,  as 
he  said  :  "There  will  be  some  black  men  who  can  re- 
member that  with  silent  tongue  and  clenched  teeth  and 
stern  eye  and  well-poised  bayonet  they  have  helped 
mankind  on  to  this  great  consummation."  *  In  re- 
calling his  own  experience  with  Negro  troops,  Colonel 
T.  W.  Higginson  wrote:  "I  often  asked  myself  why  it 
was  that,  with  this  capacity  for  daring  and  endurance, 
they  had  not  kept  the  land  in  a  perpetual  flame  of  in- 
surrection. .  .  .  The  answer  was  to  be  found  in  the 
peculiar  temperament  of  the  race,  in  their  religious 
faith,  and  in  the  habit  of  patience  that  centuries  had 
fortified.  .  .  .  They  were  the  most  affectionate  people 
among  whom  I  ever  lived.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand, 
they  rarely  showed  one  gleam  of  revenge."  f 

This,  then,  is  the  background  against  which  the  story  of 
Hampton  Institute  must  be  set — the  dusky  outline  of  a 
backward  and  discouraged,  yet  a  patient,  affectionate, 
forgiving,  and  religious  race,  without  "one  gleam  -of 
revenge";  a  race  whose  qualities  had  been  tested  by 
the  stern  ordeal  of  war,  and  which  had  gained  the  right 
to  survive  and  flourish.     Its  character  was  to  be  con- 


*  Complete  Works,  ed.  Nicolay  and  Hay,  1894;  II,  398. 
t  Op.  cit.,  p.  248. 

24 


THE   STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

fronted  by  new  demands ;  the  teachableness  which  it 
had  shown  in  servitude,  and  the  courage  which  it  had 
shown  in  war,  were  to  meet  the  severer  tests  of  the 
years  of  reconstruction.  Yet  the  way  of  hope  was 
plain.  Out  from  this  dark  background  soon  emerged 
the  plan  of  an  education  adapted  to  the  special  needs 
of  an  undeveloped,  yet  not  unpromising,  race.  The 
desire  for  such  an  education  soon  filled  the  foreground 
of  the  Negro's  picture  of  life,  and  in  the  centre  of  this 
untried  and  difficult  enterprise  was  set  the  work  of 
Hampton  Institute. 


CHAPTER  TWO 

THE    NEGRO    AFTER    THE    CIVIL    WAR 

(1865-1868) 

AS  ONE  passes  from  the  years  of  Civil  War  to  the  not 
less  momentous  period  of  National  reconstruction^  he  is 
impressed  by  the  historical  importance  of  that  small 
area  of  Virginia  which  lies  about  the  town  of  Hampton. 
Great  events  are  associated  with  the  names  of  Gettys- 
burg and  Appomattox,  but  for  an  epitome  of  progress 
in  those  eventful  years  one  may  turn  to  the  story  of 
that  peninsula  which  lies  like  a  clenched  hand  thrust 
between  the  James  and  York  rivers  into  the  broad  ex- 
panse of  Chesapeake  Bay.  At  its  slender  wrist  are 
Jamestown,  where  American  history  began,  and  York- 
town,  where  it  began  anew;  and  on  its  bent  finger  is 
set  the  massive  ring  of  Fortress  Monroe.  Only  nine 
miles  from  the  Fort,  on  June  10,  1861,  the  Northern 
forces  met  one  of  their  earliest  and  most  disheartening 
disasters  at  Big  Bethel,  in  that  ill-advised  assault,  of 
which  even  General  Butler  said:  "Everything  was 
utterly  mismanaged."  *  In  the  roadstead  before  the 
Fort,  on  March  9,  1862,  the  battle  between  the  Merri- 
mac  and  the  Monitor  revolutionized  naval  science;    and 

*  "  Butler's  Book,"  1892,  p.  276. 
26 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 


27 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

at  almost  precisely  the  same  point,  on  Feb.  3,  1865, 
Lincoln  and  Seward  met  in  conference  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Confederacy  and  made  a  last  and  futile 
attempt  at  reconciliation.  In  the  neighboring  town  of 
Hampton  was  given  the  first  evidence  of  that  fiery  deter- 
mination among  Southern  leaders,  which  could  permit  even 
the  destruction  of  their  own  homes  for  the  sake  of  their 
cause ;  and  at  Fortress  Monroe  itself  the  Negro  race  re- 
ceived the  first  recognition  of  its  rights  and  took  a  share  in 
the  defence  of  its  freedom.  It  is  one  of  the  most  fortunate 
circumstances  of  Hampton  Institute  that  it  was  established 
on  this  historic  ground,  and  that  its  students  may  be  in- 
structed in  these  local  traditions  of  suffering  and  victory. 
On  May  22,  1861,  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler  as- 
sumed command  of  the  Department  of  Virginia  at 
Fortress  Monroe.  The  bridge  to  the  mainland  was 
held  by  Southern  troops,  and  a  Confederate  flag  waved 
within  sight  of  the  Fort.  On  May  24,  the  day  after 
Virginia  had  ratified  the  ordinance  of  secession,  three 
Negro  field-hands,  slaves  of  Colonel  Mallory,  a  lawyer 
of  Hampton,  were  brought  before  General  Butler;  and 
with  the  adroitness  of  which  his  legal  experience  had 
made  him  a  master,  he  applied  to  them  the  doctrine  of 
"contraband  of  war."  *     The  term,  in  international  law, 


*  The  most  trustworthy  contemporary  account  {Atlantic  Monthly,  Nov. 
1861,  pp.  626  ff.)  is  of  permanent  interest.  Its  author,  Edward  L.  Pierce,  a 
Boston  lawyer  and  later  the  biographer  of  Charles  Sumner,  had  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  the  Third  Massachusetts  Regiment.  He  was  detailed  to  direct  the 
work  of  Negroes  at  Hampton,  and,  when  his  term  of  enlistment  expired,  was 
appointed  Superintendent  of  the  refugees  at  Port  Royal. 

28 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

had  been  ordinarily  applied,  not  to  the  relation  between 
belligerents,  but  to  that  which  exists  between  a  belligerent 
and  a  neutral.  Goods  directly  contributory  to  military 
operations,  if  sent  in  time  of  war  by  a  neutral  to  an 
enemy's  country,  were  liable  to  seizure  as  contraband. 
When,  however,  the  representatives  of  Colonel  Mallory 
appeared  with  a  flag  of  truce,  demanding  that  his  Negroes 
should  be  returned  under  the  terms  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law,  General  Butler  pointed  out  to  them  that  Virginia 
now  regarded  herself  as  a  Foreign  State  and  must  take  • 
the  consequences.  The  Negroes,  he  said,  had  been 
"employed  in  the  construction  of  your  battery,  and  are 
now  claimed  as  your  property."  He  was,  therefore, 
"under  no  constitutional  obligation  to  a  foreign  country, 
which  Virginia  now  claims  to  be."  *  It  was  in  its  legal 
aspects  a  dubious  proposition,  and  the  assertion  by 
General  Butler  that  he  originated  the  expanded  doctrine 
has  been  warmly  denied.  In  any  event,  it  was  a  drastic 
war-measure  whose  real  defence  was  indicated  by  the 
coarse  comment  made  by  General  Butler  to  a  subor- 
dinate :  "At  any  rate,  Haggerty,  it  is  a  good  enough 
reason  to  stop  the  rebels'  mouths  with,  especially  as  I 
should  have  held  the  Negroes  anyway." 

These  first  arrivals  were  soon  followed  by  other  refugees 
in  "twenties,  thirties,  and  forties,"  seeking  the  "Freedom- 
Fort,"  until,  in  July  1861,  there  were  not  less  than  nine 
hundred  "contrabands"  camped  in  the  neighborhood  and 
described  by  General  Butler  as  "if  not  free-born,  free- 

•  "  Butler's  Book,"  1892,  p.  257. 

29 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

manumitted,  sent  forth  from  the  hand  that  held  them, 
never  to  return."  On  May  27  he  called  the  attention 
of  the  War  Department  to  his  action  and  received  a 
guarded  approval.  "It  is  the  desire  of  the  President," 
wrote  the  Secretary  of  War,  "that  all  existing  rights  in 
all  the  States  be  fully  respected.  ...  In  the  disloyal 
States  the  Confiscation  Acts  of  Congress  must  be  your 
guide."  Meantime  other  commanders  had  acted  at 
their  own  discretion  and  in  various  ways.  General 
McDowell  had  forbidden  slaves  to  enter  his  lines.  Gen- 
eral Halleck  "expressly  excluded  fugitive  slaves  from 
the  Union  lines  within  his  Department."  Other  com- 
manders "were  especially  commended  by  a  Confederate 
newspaper  correspondent  for  courtesies  extended  to  a 
slave-hunter  within  their  lines."  *  Finally,  on  July  6th, 
Congress  declared  that  "any  person  employing  the  labor 
of  another  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
shall  forfeit  his  claim  to  such  labor." 

Fortified  by  this  legislative  encouragement  General 
Butler  proceeded  with  more  active  measures.  The  Fed- 
eral forces  had  already  occupied  the  town  of  Hampton, 
which  had  been  deserted  by  all  but  "a  dozen  white  men 
and  about  three  hundred  Negroes";  and  as  it  became 
necessary  to  throw  up  breastworks,  Negroes  were  set  to 
work  on  this  task  on  July  8,  1861,  being  "the  first  day 
on  which  Negroes  were  employed  upon  the  military 
works  of  the  army."  "The  contrabands  worked  well," 
reports  their  Superintendent;  "I  did  not  hear  a  profane 

*  Eaton,  "  Grant,  Lincoln  and  the  Freedmen,"  1907,  p.  48. 
30 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

or  vulgar  word  spoken  during  my  superintendence;  a 
remark  which  it  will  be  difficult  to  make  of  any  sixty- 
four  men  taken  together  anywhere  in  our  army."  "As 
a  race,"  he  concludes,  "they  may  be  less  vigorous  than 
the  Saxons,  but  they  are  more  social,  docile,  and  affec- 
tionate." And  of  their  later  conduct  he  adds,  "History 
will  not  fail  to  record  that  on  the  i8th  day  of  August, 
1861,  when  the  Rebel  forces  were  bombarded  by  the 
Federal  army  and  navy  under  the  command  of  Major- 
General  Butler  and  Commodore  Stringham,  fourteen 
Negroes,  lately  Virginian  slaves,  now  contraband  of  war, 
faithfully  and  without  panic,  worked  the  after-gun  of 
the  upper  deck  of  the  Minnesota,  and  hailed  with  a 
victor's  pride  the  Stars  and  Stripes  as  they  again  waved 
on  the  soil  of  the  CaroHnas."  * 

On  the  night  of  August  7,  1861,  and  as  a  sacrificial 
testimony  to  their  own  cause,  the  Confederate  forces 
set  fire  to  the  town  of  Hampton.  "It  became  neces- 
sary," an  officer  engaged  in  this  Quixotic  enterprise  has 
written,  "to  disabuse  the  Northern  mind  of  its  miscon- 
ception of  the  actual  condition  of  affairs;  and  it  was 
supposed  that  a  scene,  such  as  the  burning  of  a  town 
by  its  own  inhabitants  rather  than  have  it  occupied 
by  an  invading  foe,  would  tend  greatly  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  this  end.  This  step  had  several  times 
been  suggested  to  General  Magruder,  commanding  on 
the  peninsula,  and  this,  too,  by  residents  of  the  town 
and    county.  .  .  .     That    nothing    of   its    moral    effect 

*  Atlantic  Monthly,  Nov.  1861,  p.  630. 

31 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

should  be  lost  ...  he  commanded  that  the  town  should 
be  fired  as  far  as  possible  only  by  such  companies  as 
were  raised  in   and   around  it."  * 

Such  were  some  of  the  momentous  incidents  which 
give  to  the  Hampton  peninsula  its  peculiar  place  in  the 
history  of  the  Negro  race.  Here,  in  1619,  the  first  cargo 
of  Negro  slaves  was  landed  on  the  American  continent ; 
here,  in  1861,  Negro  refugees  first  found  asylum  and  the 
demands  of  their  owners  were  denied ;  here  Negroes 
were  for  the  first  time  employed  both  as  wage-earners 
and  as  allies  of  the  Northern  cause ;  and  from  this  point, 
as  the  war  drew  to  its  close,  the  news  of  freedom  and 
opportunity  spread  from  cabin  to  cabin  throughout  the 
South  and  drew  thither  an  increasing  multitude  of 
homeless  wanderers,  without  resources  and  plans,  but 
vaguely  trusting  in  the  beneficence  of  "Massar  Linkum's 
men"  to  provide  for  their  needs  and  show  them  their 
way.  Thus  the  entire  drama  of  emancipation  and  re- 
construction may  be  seen,  as  on  a  small  but  well-appointed 
stage,  in  this  corner  of  Virginia,  and  the  touching  story 
of  the  Negro  after  the  Civil  War  is  soon  followed  by  the 
more  reassuring  scene  of  the  beginnings  of  Hampton 
Institute. 

The  first  act  in  this  drama  of  redemption  presented, 
in  1 861,  a  situation  which  was  disheartening  enough  to 
satisfy  the  severest  critic  of  the  Negro  race.  A  throng 
of  refugees  "were  huddled   up   in    the  neighborhood  of 

*  S.  W.  Armstead,  "  Campaign  of  the  Southern  Army,"  Southern  Workman, 
April  1875. 

32 


TOWN  OF  HAMPTON  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF    lllK  CIVIL  WAR 


From  IIurixTs  "  Pictorliil  History  of  the  Great  Rebellion. 
Copyright  l«6G,  1894,  by  Harper  and  Brothers 


BURNING  OF   HAMPTON   BY  GENERAL  MAGRUDER 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

the  Fort,"  with  "insufficient  food  and  clothing,  after 
long  exposure  and  privation  on  the  journey,  and  ig- 
norant of  the  simplest  decencies  of  life.  .  .  .  Some- 
times they  brought  with  them  a  few  household  goods 
done  up  in  a  bundle;  more  often  they  came  with  abso- 
lutely nothing,  not  even  sufficient  clothing  to  cover 
them.  .  .  .  They  travelled  through  the  woods  or  by 
night;  they  endured  hardships  manifold,  and  overcame 
obstacles  well-nigh  insurmountable,  with  that  dogged 
patience  which  is  one  of  the  prevailing  characteristics 
of  their  race ;  and  they  pushed  their  way  at  last  by 
hundreds  and  eventually  by  thousands  into  the  Union 
lines  and  under  the  protection  of  'Linkum's  soldiers.' 
Then  they  sat  down  helpless  but  hopeful,  and  waited  for 
something  to  be  done  for  them.  There  was  a  prevaihng 
impression  among  them  that  if  they  were  free  they 
would  at  once  come  into  the  possession  of  all  the  neces- 
saries and  even  luxuries  of  life  without  need  to  work 
any  more."  * 

An  eye-witness  thus  describes  these  early  arrivals : 
"There  had  come  within  the  enclosure  of  the  Fort  what 
appeared  to  be  men,  women,  and  children,  beings  that 
could  not  only  walk  and  run,  but  talk,  and  with  panting 
breath  begged  protection  from  those  who  claimed  them 
as  their  property.  .  .  .  They  were  set  to  work  on  the 
defenses  .  .  .  and  the  orders  required  that  they  should 
be  recompensed  for  their  labor,  but  no  money  reached 
them  for  a  long  time,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  to  them, 

*  Southern  Workman,  Dec.  1886. 

33 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  to  us  who  sympathized  and  worked  with  them, 
seeing  their  toil  and  their  needs,  it  seemed  sometimes 
that  they  had  but  changed  one  slavery  for  another. 
One  of  the  more  intelligent  among  them  stated  it  thus : 
*Dey  said  that  we,  de  able-body  men,  was  to  get  $S  a 
month,  an'  de  women,  $4  and  de  ration ;  only  we  was  to 
allow  ^i  de  month  to  help  de  poor  an'  de  old — ^which 
we  don't  'gret — an'  one  dollar  for  de  sick  ones,  an'  den 
anudder  dollar  for  Gen^l  Purposes.  We  don't  zactly 
know  who  dat  Gen'l  is,  but  'pears  like  dar  was  a  heap 
o'  dem  Gen'ls,  an'  it  takes  all  dar  is  to  pay  'em,  'cause 
we  don't  get  nuffins.'  "  * 

These  human  derelicts,  thus  stranded  on  the  peninsula 
by  the  tidal  wave  of  war,  became,  as  this  reporter  adds, 
"sadly  depressed  and  discouraged";  but  the  instincts 
of  religion  which  had  been  their  solace  in  slavery,  soon 
found  new  utterance  in  the  hardly  more  hopeful  cir- 
cumstances of  destitution  and  uncertainty.  They  would 
meet  "in  a  dirty,  gloomy  room,  some  seated  on  old 
boards,  some  standing,  seeking  some  dim  interpretation 
of  their  troubles  and  even  recalling  the  homes,  from 
which  they  had  abruptly  fled,  with  a  persistent  affection. 
An  aged  woman  prays,  all  bowing  low,  many  prostrate 
to  the  ground  :  *0  God,  be  pleased  to  bress  my  dear 
children  now  away  in  slavery.  And,  oh,  bress  de  ole 
massa  an'  missus' — sobs  and  wails  and  groans  all  over 
the  room.  A  brother  rises  and  says,  'Brudderin,  we's 
now  right  in  de  Red  Sea — looks  dark,  but  I  b'leves  de 

*  Southern  Workman,  April  1884  —  "Among  the  Contrabands." 
34 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Gubberment  '11  bring  us  outen  it.  We  must  trust  in  de 
good  Lord.'  Another  shakes  his  head  and  says,  'Maybe 
dat  brudder  can  trust,  but  I  sees  no  light.  Nebber  seen 
no  such  darkness  befo'  de  war.  Seems  like  ebry  ting 
gits  worser  an'  worser.'  Then  a  prayer — 'Gubberment 
ob  dese  Unitum  States.  Carry  deir  arms  for  'em  an' 
gib  'em  full  victories.'  Another  says,  'I  don't  see  how 
we  can  pray  for  de  Gubberment.  'Pears  hke  dey  just 
done  bring  us  h'yer  to  work  fur  dem,  an'  its  de  fact, 
brudderin  an'  sisteren,  my  old  massa  nebber  treat  me 
so  hard  as  I'se  been  treated  sense  I  come  widin  de  Union 
lines.' 

"Another  says,  'Bredren,  we  must  be  patient  and 
wait.  God  am  seems  like  tryin'  on  us.  We  does  has 
our  trials.  I  has  to  work  hard,  an'  I  don't  get  nothin' 
'cept  de  rations,  but  I  means  to  be  faithful,  an'  if  I  dies 
in  de  cause  an'  never  sees  freedom,  p'raps  my  chillun 
now  in  slavery  may  get  to  d.e  land  of  promise.  Remem- 
ber de  Bible  done  says,  "  Godliness  wid  'tentment  is  de 
great  gains."  I  know  it  seems  hard  to  be  treated  as 
we  is,  but  I  specs  de  Gubberment  ain't  to  blame,  but 
it's  some  o'  dese  ole  army  officers.  We  must  work  an' 
do  all  we  can ;  pray  for  de  President  an'  de  Gubber- 
ment, an'  believe  in  God,  who  is  much  more  mightier 
dan  all  de  enemies.'" 

What  could  be  done  for  this  pathetic  and  increasing 
multitude,  which  had  drifted  from  the  plantations  to  the 
seaboard,  allured  by  false  hopes  and  escaping  from  forced 
labor  ?     What  agencies  could  be  set  to  work  for  the  amel- 

35 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

ioration  of  a  lot  which  had  been  thrust  upon  the  Negro 
race  in  the  guise  of  national  benevolence  ?  These  refugees 
were  like  little  children  who  had  prayed  at  night  for  more 
time  to  play,  and  waked  to  find  no  answer  to  their  prayer 
but  hunger  and  work.  "Well,  Auntie,"  said  a  Northern 
traveller  of  unusual  discernment,*  "a  convention  has  just 
said  there  shall  be  no  more  slavery.  ...  *Is  dat  ar 
true,  Massa?'  answered  the  Negro  woman.  'I'se  done 
gone  pray  dat  dese  yere  forty  years,  I'se  hope  de  Lord 
come  in  my  time,  but  'pears  like  he  idle  by  de  way.'" 
"What  are  you  going  to  do  there?"  the  same  inquirer 
asked,  as  he  met  "scores  of  Negroes  trudging  along  to 
the  coast,  with  their  whole  earthly  possessions  in  a  bundle 
on  their  heads,"  and  the  only  answer  was  :  "Dun  know." 
Many  were  convinced  that  the  Government  intended  to 
give  them  the  land,  and  asked  :  "Wen  is  de  land  goin' 
fer  to  be  dewided  ?"  and  one  old  man  was  shrewd  enough 
to  hope  for  a  desirable  lot,  and  remained  on  the  planta- 
tion, remarking :  "  De  home-house  might  come  to  me,  ye 
see,  sah,  in  de  dewision."  In  short,  as  this  student  of 
the  migration  concludes,  "It  is  painfully  certain  that 
next  to  teaching  the  whites  that  the  Negro  is  a  free  man 
and  not  an  animal,  the  hardest  work  before  the  North 
now  is  to  teach  the  Negro  what  constitutes  his  freedom." 
In  this  appealing  situation  there  were  but  two  sources 
from  which  it  could  be  reasonably  expected  that  relief 
might  come.     The  Southern  whites  were  not  only  crushed 

*  Sidney  Andrews,  "The  South  since  the  War,"  1866,  pp.  68-98;  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  Boston  Advertiser  and  the  Chicago  Tribune. 

36 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

by  misfortune  and  smarting  under  defeat,  but  they  were 
for  the  most  part  frankly  sceptical  of  the  Negro's  capacity 
for  self-help  or  voluntary  labor  or  education.  "Three- 
fourths  of  the  people,"  concludes  the  Northern  observer 
already  cited,  "assume  that  the  Negro  will  not  work 
except  on  compulsion."  Here  and  there  the  colored 
people  themselves  made  pathetic  attempts  at  mutual 
helpfulness  and  the  elements  of  schooling,  but  they 
could  offer  to  each  other  little  beyond  good  intentions. 
In  the  town  of  Hampton,  for  example,  after  it  had  been 
deserted  by  its  white  inhabitants,  an  aged  contraband, 
who  had  been  a  slave  of  ex-President  Tyler  and  who 
remained  in  charge  of  his  master's  property,  established 
a  primary  school  in  the  cellar  of  the  Tyler  mansion. 
His  procedure  has  been  thus  described:  "Uncle  Peter 
is  seated  in  a  large  armchair;  some  twenty-five  little 
'contrabands'  around  him;  a  'class'  standing  at  his 
knee;  he  is  trying  to  teach  them  the  alphabet.  Hold- 
ing up  before  them  an  old,  well-worn  spelling  book, 
bowed  over  it  and  turning  it  so  that  he  can  see  the  letters 
himself — they  to  see  if  they  can — pointing  with  his  finger 
as  he  finds  the  place,  he  announces,  'That's  A.'  *A,' 
responds  the  'class' — looking  everywhere  but  at  the 
letter,  which  they  could  hardly  see  if  they  tried.  'That's 
B.'  *B,'  they  shout.  So  on,  down  the  line.  'Wait  a 
moment.  Uncle,'  intervenes  a  visitor,  'that  is  answering 
pretty  well.  Now  try  them  on  the  up-grade.  Begin  at 
the  bottom.'  Looking  over  his  glasses,  then  under,  then 
through  them,  Uncle  Peter  announces  frankly,  'I  don't 

37 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

zackly  know  'em  up  dat  yer  way,  boss,  but  I  done  knows 
*em  all  down  dis  yer  way' — ^with  finger  suiting  action  to 
the  word."  * 

A  more  constructive  contribution  to  missionary  service 
was  made  by  an  educated  and  pious  woman,  Mary  Peake, 
whose  name  is  still  cherished  on  the  Hampton  peninsula. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  a  free  colored  woman  and  an 
Englishman,  and  became  the  wife  of  a  free  and  intelligent 
Negro.  She  had  been  given  before  the  War  opportunities 
of  education  such  as  few  of  her  race  and  sex  had  received, 
and  when  the  rush  of  contrabands  to  the  Fort  and  the 
burning  of  the  town  of  Hampton  brought  destitution 
and  despair  to  great  numbers  of  the  colored  people,  the 
model  school  established  in  her  little  home  near  the 
present  site  of  Hampton  Institute  became  a  centre  of  cour- 
age and  faith.  There  still  stands  a  great  live-oak,  known 
in  the  neighborhood  as  the  "Emancipation  Oak,"  near  the 
Whittier  School,  and  under  this  tree  Mrs.  Peake,  according 
to  tradition,  taught  the  first  class  of  contraband  children. 
In  rapidly  failing  health,  she  persisted,  even  on  her  death- 
bed, both  in  teaching  and  in  religious  exhortation,  and  her 
Christian  self-sacrifice  remains  a  vivid  memory. 

There  remained,  then,  as  possible  agents  of  relief,  only 
the  machinery  of  the  National  Government  and  the 
benevolence  of  Northern  friends.  The  Government, 
which  had  dictated  this  abrupt  change  in  the  condition 
of  the  Negro  race,  was  now  compelled,  both  by  its  sense 
of  duty   and   by  considerations  of  its   own  security,  to 

*  Southern  Workman,  April  1884. 
38 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

protect  its  wards  from  new  disasters,  and  to  give  them  a 
foothold  in  a  new  world ;  and  the  philanthropists  and 
missionaries  of  the  North,  who  had  propagated  their 
faith  in  the  brotherhood  of  man,  were  now  confronted 
with  a  new  and  vast  opportunity  to  show  their  faith 
through  their  works.  Both  of  these  agencies  of  ameliora- 
tion promptly  undertook  their  constructive  tasks,  and 
in  spite  of  many  blunders,  much  wastefulness,  and  some 
of  the  corrupt  practices  which  in  a  Democracy  seem 
inevitably  associated  with  novel  and  gigantic  enterprises, 
finally  brought  the  Negro  population  over,  as  by  a  long 
and  often  tottering  bridge,  from  mendicancy  and  ig- 
norance to  self-support  and  the  rudiments  of  education. 

The  first  steps  in  this  work  of  reconstruction  were 
taken  by  the  National  Government.  While  the  War  was 
still  in  progress  it  had  become  necessary  to  appoint 
superintendents  to  administer  in  various  districts  of  the 
South  the  affairs  of  "contrabands."  Thus,  after  the 
capture  of  Port  Royal  in  1861,  Edward  L.  Pierce  of 
Massachusetts  became  responsible  for  more  than  ten 
thousand  refugees  and  nearly  two  hundred  plantations 
in  and  near  the  Sea  Islands,  enforcing  discipline  and 
promoting  the  establishment  of  schools,  of  which  the 
Penn  School  is  a  still  surviving  and  flourishing  witness. 
In  November  1862,  General  Grant  appointed  as  super- 
intendent of  Negro  affairs  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
Chaplain  John  Eaton,  Jr.,  who  in  this  service  prepared 
himself  for  a  distinguished  career  in  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  and  as  Commissioner  of  Education. 

39 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

In  January  1863,  General  Banks,  commanding  the 
Department  of  the  Gulf,  introduced  a  scheme  of  compul- 
sory labor  at  fixed  compensation,  which  he  described  as, 
"if  not  the  best,  is  now  the  only  practicable  system."  * 
"The  public  interest,"  Banks  had  announced,  "peremp- 
torily demands  that  all  persons  without  other  means  of 
support  be  required  to  maintain  themselves  by  labor. 
Negroes  are  not  exceptions  from  this  law.  Those  who 
leave  their  employers  will  be  compelled  to  support  them- 
selves and  families  by  labor  upon  the  public  works. 
Under  no  circumstances  whatever  can  they  be  main- 
tained in  idleness,  .  .  .  The  Sequestration  Commission 
is  hereby  authorized  and  directed,  upon  conference  with 
planters  and  other  parties,  to  propose  and  establish  a 
yearly  system  of  Negro  labor,  which  shall  provide  for  it 
food,  clothing,  proper  treatment,  and  just  compensation 
for  the  Negroes  at  fixed  rates,  or  an  equitable  proportion 
of  the  yearly  crop,  as  may  be  deemed  advisable.  It 
should  be  just,  but  not  exorbitant  or  onerous."  f 

This  undertaking,  though  it  might  now  be  described 
as  "scientific  charity,"  found  the  North  unprepared 
for  so  restrained  and  disciplinary  a  plan.  It  was 
generally  condemned  by  the  Press  as  a  new  slavery,  and 
was  described  by  the  London  Times  as  "a  change  from 
slavery  to  serfdom."  In  September  1863,  a  more  com- 
prehensive scheme  of  supervision  was  undertaken.     The 


*  N.  P.  Banks,  "  Emancipated  Labor  in  Louisiana,"  an  Address  at  Boston, 
Oct.  30,  1884,  p.  19. 

t  General  Order  No.  12,  Jan.  30,  1863. 

40 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

States  still  in  rebellion  were  divided  into  five  districts, 
and  again  in  July  1864  into  seven  districts,  each  with  its 
special  agent  for  freedmen,  and  certain  tracts  in  each  dis- 
trict were  set  apart  as  "Freedmen's  Labor  Colonies."  * 
These  governmental  regulations  were,  however,  sadly 
hampered,  not  only  by  the  vast  dimensions  of  the  prob- 
lem, but  by  inefficiency  and  inexperience  in  many  agents. 
Military  men  disputed  the  authority  of  Treasury  officials, 
and  competent  Treasury  officials  were  not  easy  to  find 
for  so  perplexing  and  compHcated  a  task.  "Some  of 
the  agents  became  corrupt  despite  every  effort  to  prevent 
corruption.  .  .  .  No  sure  calculation  could  be  made 
upon  the  integrity  of  any  man.  ...  In  a  word,  the 
times  were  out  of  joint."  f  A  harmonious  and  effective 
system  could  not,  in  fact,  be  established  until  the  National 
authority  was  again  recognized  and  obeyed  throughout 
the  South. 

Meantime  the  pitiful  condition  of  the  freedmen  had 
touched  the  heart  of  the  North,  and  there  began  to  flow 
Southward  that  stream  of  money  and  missionary  service 
which  has  continued  in  increasing  volume  for  fifty  years. 
The  first  organization  to  meet  this  new  demand  on  benef- 
icence was  the  American  Missionary  Association,  which 
had  been  incorporated  specifically  for  evangelistic  work. 
Its  agents  observed  the  inadequacy  of  governmental 
relief.     "All  that  has  been  done  for  them  [the  Negroes]," 


*  P.  G.  Peirce,  "  The  Freedmen's  Bureau,"  1904,  p.  24.     (Bulletin  of  State 
Univ.  of  Iowa,  No.  74.) 

t  J.  W.  Schuckers,  «  Life  of  S.  P.  Chase,"  1874,  p.  328. 

41 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

reported  the  Agent  at  Fortress  Monroe,  "has  been  to 
supply  those  employed  by  Government  with  quarters, 
rations,  and  some  clothing,  and  in  some  instances  one 
or  two  dollars  cash  for  the  last  month's  services.  .  .  . 
The  vast  mass  of  families  who  are  on  the  west  side  of 
the  bridge  leading  to  the  Fort  have  received  nothing 
from  the  Government."  *  Missions  and  schools  were 
soon  established  near  the  Fort,  at  Newport  News,  Hamp- 
ton, and  many  other  points  in  the  South ;  and  in  July 
1862  a  military  commission,  appointed  by  General  Wool, 
then  in  command  at  Fortress  Monroe,  recommended  that 
"Governmental  aid  be  rigidly  discriminated  from  philan- 
thropic service,  and  that  provision  for  moral  and  intellec- 
tual culture  be  left  to  societies   at  the  North."  f 

On  February  22,  1862,  the  work  thus  maintained  by 
one  group  of  Christian  missionaries  was  enlarged  by  the 
creation,  at  a  meeting  in  New  York,  of  the  National 
Freedmen's  Relief  Association,  which  undertook  "the 
relief  and  improvement  of  the  freedmen  of  the  colored 
race,  to  teach  them  civilization  and  Christianity,  to 
imbue  them  with  motives  of  order,  industry,  and  self- 
reliance,  and  to  elevate  them  in  the  scale  of  humanity 
by  inspiring  them  with  self-respect."  Similar  enter- 
prises were  soon  undertaken  by  a  Freedmen's  Aid  Com- 
mission, a  Contraband  Relief  Society,  as  well  as  by  the 
Sanitary  Commission,  Christian  Commission,  and  repre- 
sentatives of  many  other  Christian  communions.  Co-oper- 
ation, however,  was  imperfect  and  rivalry  not  unknown. 

*  American  Missionary,  Feb.  l86l.  ^  Ibid.,  July  1862. 

42 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Finally,  in  March  1865,  the  American  Freedmen's  Union 
Commission  was  incorporated  to  standardize  relief  and 
economize  in  administration.*  It  was,  in  short,  a  situa- 
tion curiously  anticipating  the  story  of  the  relief-measures 
suddenly  demanded  a  half-century  later  in  the  greater 
exigency  of  a  World  War ;  when  for  a  time  zeal  outran 
discretion,  and  prodigality  reduced  efficiency.  As  the 
end  of  the  war  came  in  sight,  the  necessity  for  centralized 
and  National  control  of  the  vast  legacy  of  helplessness  be- 
queathed by  emancipation  became  generally  recognized ; 
and  out  of  this  necessity  for  a  uniform  and  stable  system 
issued  at  last,  through  many  obstacles  of  hostile  criticism 
and  ill-considered  schemes,  the  gigantic  enterprise  of  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau. 

The  first  proposition  for  such  an  undertaking  was  made 
as  early  as  January  1863  in  the  Senate  by  Henry  Wilson, 
and  in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  Thomas  Dawes 
Eliot  of  Massachusetts.  Debate  was  hot  in  Congress 
as  to  the  scope,  limit,  and  probable  effect  of  this  govern- 
mental paternaHsm.  Should  it  be  controlled  by  the 
War  Department  as  a  military  measure,  or  by  the  Treas- 
ury as  an  economic  scheme  ?  Would  it  be  likely  to  pro- 
mote self-help  among  the  Negroes,  or  encourage  their 
inclination  to  thriftlessness  .?  Did  it  not  place  a  perilous 
amount  of  despotic  power  in  the  hands  of  one  man  .? 
Would  it  not  create  a  new  type  of  "overseers  and  Negro 
drivers,  too  lazy  to  work  themselves,  and  just  a  little  too 

*  Lyman  Abbott,  "  Results  of  Emancipation,"  Congregationalist,  Dec.  30, 
1864. 

43 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

honest  to  steal"?  All  these  anticipations  and  appre- 
hensions were  expressed  with  the  same  divergence  of 
opinion  which  has  again  become  familiar  when,  under  the 
strain  of  a  greater  war,  an  even  greater  expansion  of  cen- 
tralized control  became  essential  for  efficiency.  It  was 
not  until  March  3,  1865,  one  month  before  the  death  of 
President  Lincoln,  that  the  bitter  opposition  to  the 
scheme  was  overcome  and  a  "  Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freed- 
men,  and  Abandoned  Lands"  was  estabhshed,  "to  con- 
tinue during  the  present  war  of  rebellion,  and  for  one 
year  thereafter."  It  was  to  be  a  division  of  the  War 
Department,  controlled  by  a  single  Commissioner,  who 
should  appoint  assistant  commissioners,  through  whom 
provisions,  clothing,  and  fuel  for  freed  men  should  be 
distributed.  Abandoned  or  confiscated  lands  in  the 
States  in  rebellion  might  be  assigned  in  tracts  of  forty 
acres  to  refugees  for  a  term  of  three  years,  at  a  rental  of 
six  per  cent  on  an  appraised  valuation ;  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  the  occupant  might  purchase  the  land  at 
its  appraised  value  and  receive  title  from  the  United 
States.  It  was,  in  short,  an  extension,  at  that  time  un- 
precedented, of  governmental  authority,  delegating  to  a 
single  administrator  paternal  control  over  four  millions 
of  singularly  helpless  and  thriftless  wards. 

Such  an  autocracy,  benevolent  as  its  intention  might  be, 
was  therefore  completely  dependent  on  the  character  and 
capacity  of  its  administrative  head;  and  the  appoint- 
ment of  General  Oliver  O.  Howard,  Commander  of  the 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,   as  Commissioner,  seemed   to 

44 


THE   BUTLER   SCHOOL 
Built  by  General  Butler  for  "Contraband  of  War" 


A   CONTRABAND'S  CABIN 
Note  the  "Virginia  Creeper"  before  the  door 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

guarantee  both  moral  and  executive  leadership.  Gen- 
eral Howard  had  won  distinction  at  Gettysburg,  and 
had  commanded  the  right  wing  of  Sherman's  army  on 
its  march  to  the  sea.  He  was  conscientious,  serious- 
minded,  and  devout.  General  Sherman  had  said  of 
him:  "I  cannot  imagine  that  matters  that  may  involve 
the  future  of  four  millions  of  souls  could  have  been  put 
in  more  charitable  or  more  benevolent  hands."  *  His 
power  was  to  be  absolute.  "Mr.  Stanton,"  he  said  in 
an  address  at  Hampton  in  1889,  "held  out  to  me  a  great 
basketful  of  papers,  saying:  'There  is  your  Bureau, 
General,  take  it.'  I  took  my  Bureau  and  walked  out 
with  it.  I  think  now  that  God  led  me  and  assigned  that 
work  to  me."  General  Howard  at  once  appointed  ten 
assistant  commissioners,  all  of  whom  were  army  officers, 
and  these  in  turn  organized  in  the  ten  districts  of  the 
South  their  subordinate  departments  of  subsistence, 
land,  court,  education,  medical  relief,  and  other  necessities 
of  orderly  life.  "  It  was  impossible  at  the  outset,"  General 
Howard  testified,  "to  do  more  than  lay  down  a  few  gen- 
eral principles  to  guide  the  officers  assigned  as  assistant 
commissioners.  ...  I  therefore  left  it  to  my  subor- 
dinates to  devise  suitable  measures  for  effecting  their 
objects." 

The  project  thus  auspiciously  launched  was  soon  beset 
by  a  storm  of  criticism.  It  had  been  undertaken  as  a 
temporary  measure,  and  its  prolonged  activity  appeared 
to  Southern  sentiment  both  threatening  and  unconstitu- 

»  Peirce,  op.  cit.,  pp.  47-65. 

45 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

tional.  It  had  established  an  autocracy  within  a  de- 
mocracy, and  might  easily  become  a  tool  of  party  politics, 
aligning  the  Negro  vote  against  the  Southern  whites.  Its 
operations  had  become  vast  in  scope,  committing  to 
thousands  of  agents  grave  responsibilities  concerning  the 
ownership  of  land,  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the 
appropriation  of  many  millions  of  dollars  for  the  relief 
of  destitution,  the  transportation  of  refugees,  and  the 
establishing  or  subsidizing  of  schools  and  colleges.  Ru- 
mors of  maladministration,  political  partisanship,  and 
financial  speculation  on  the  part  of  agents  multiplied, 
until  by  direction  of  President  Johnson  three  formal 
investigations  were  made  in  succession  by  the  most 
competent  of  counsellors. 

The  first  survey  was  that  of  General  Grant  in  1865, 
who  reported  :  "  Everywhere  General  Howard,  the  able 
Head  of  the  Bureau,  made  friends  by  the  just  and  fair 
instructions  he  gave,  but  the  complaint  in  South  Carolina 
was  that  when  he  left,  things  went  on  as  before."  The 
second  journey  of  observation  was  made  by  Carl  Schurz, 
also  in  1865,  and  his  conclusions  were  in  the  main  quite  as 
favorable.  The  rights  of  the  Negro,  he  urged,  made 
it  essential  to  continue  "the  control  of  the  National 
Government  in  the  States  lately  in  rebellion,  until  free 
labor  is  fully  developed  and  firmly  established."  *  "Not 
half  of  the  labor  that  has  been  done  at  the  South  this 
year,  or  will  be  done  this  next  year,  would  have  been, 
or  would  be,  done  but  for  the  exertions  of  the  Freed  men's 

*  Peirce,  op.  cit.,  pp.  56-65. 
46 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Bureau.  .  .  .  No  other  agency  except  one  placed  there 
by  the  National  Government  could  have  wielded  that 
moral  power,  whose  interposition  was  so  necessary  to  pre- 
vent Southern  States  from  falling  at  once  into  the  chaos 
of  a  general  collision."  The  third  inspection  was  under- 
taken by  two  other  Northern  officers,  General  Steedman 
and  General  Fullerton,  who  testified  that  while  General 
Howard  should  be  highly  commended,  and  while  the 
Bureau  had  done  much  to  preserve  order  and  to  organize 
labor,  many  agents  "  by  arbitrary,  unnecessary,  and  offen- 
sive interference "  had  increased  racial  antagonism,  and 
some  had  used  their  position  to  their  own  advantage. 
Finally,  in  1870,  General  Howard  himself  became  the  ob- 
ject oL  political  attack  and  was  charged  in  Congress  with 
"malversation  and  dereliction  of  duty."  A  distressing 
and  partisan  investigation  ensued,  which,  while  it  resulted 
in  the  complete  exoneration  of  the  Commissioner,  dis- 
closed irregularities  and  defalcations  by  certain  subordi- 
nates and  encouraged  the  conclusion  that  the  term  of 
usefulness  of  so  exceptional  and  so  vast  a  scheme  of 
paternalism  had  expired.  On  June  30,  1872,  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  was  discontinued. 

The  story  of  this  humane  and  generous  enterprise  has 
important  and  permanent  lessons  to  teach.  A  country 
at  war,  or  at  the  close  of  a  war,  may  be  necessarily  led 
to  adopt  autocratic  methods  of  administration.  De- 
mocracy as  a  political  instrument  is  more  applicable  to 
the  dilatory  procedures  of  peace  than  to  the  prompt 
and  sweeping  decisions  of  military  necessity.     A  benevo- 

47 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

lent  despotism,  like  a  general  at  the  head  of  his  army, 
acts  with  the  quickness  of  a  single  will.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  military  system  applied  to  civil  life  involves  an 
inevitable  loss  of  free  initiative  and  delegates  its  despot- 
ism to  great  numbers  of  hastily  selected  subordinates. 
No  Chief  could  have  been  better  chosen  than  General 
Howard.  Speaking  of  him  to  the  students  of  Hampton 
Institute  in  1869,  General  Armstrong  said:  "You  ought 
to  know  that  providential  work  for  your  race  which 
General  Howard  was  brought  into  the  world  to  do." 
Many  of  his  assistants  also  were  both  competent  and 
consecrated.  **The  trouble,"  wrote  an  observant  in- 
vestigator, "arose  from  the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  for 
the  State  Commissioner  or  his  chief  deputies  to  personally 
know  all  or  even  one-half  of  the  local  agents.  ...  I 
need  not  add  that  the  probabilities  are  that  one-half  the 
aggregate  number  on  duty  at  any  given  time  are  wholly 
unfit  for  their  work."  *  It  was,  in  short,  as  one  of  the 
most  discerning  of  Southern  commentators  has  said,  "a 
period  of  reconstruction,  of  much  administrative  failure, 
but  also  of  memorable  heroism  among  the  numbers  of 
men  and  women  who  undertook  the  freedmen's  initiation 
into  the  experiences  of  citizenship."  f  "The  time  will 
come,"  wrote  General  Eaton,  one  of  the  most  efficient 
of  the  assistant  commissioners,  "when  the  work  of  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau  will  be  more  justly  estimated,  and 
we  shall   discriminate   between   the   immense  service  it 


*  Andrews,  op.  cit.,  p.  23. 

t  Edgar  Gardner  Murphy,  "  Problems  of  the  Present  South,"  1904,  p.  261. 


48 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

performed  and  the  individual  elements  of  corruption 
which  without  doubt  existed."  * 

In  other  words,  the  limitations  of  administrative  effi- 
ciency proved  to  be  not  so  much  mechanical  as  moral. 
The  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  a  skilfully  devised  machine, 
but  the  machine  was  at  the  mercy  of  its  engineers,  and 
could  be  easily  wrecked  or  set  to  work  mischief  if  con- 
trolled by  incompetent  or  self-interested  agents.  The 
problem  of  democracy  was  thus  disclosed  behind  that 
of  efficiency.  It  was  the  problem  of  promoting  a  quality  of 
character  and  capacity  which  should  be  ready  for  applica- 
tion to*  the  emergencies  of  national  life.  War-measures 
must  use  as  their  instrument  those  personal  agencies  which 
the  ordinary  demands  of  peace  have  created ;  and,  as  the 
United  States  has  learned  a  half  century  later  by  costly 
and  bitter  experience,  if  a  democracy  has  not  acquired  in 
times  of  peace  the  virtues  of  integrity  and  efficiency,  then 
it  cannot  without  vast  disadvantage  and  waste  accept 
abruptly  the  untried  and  prodigious  responsibilities  of  war. 

In  one  respect,  however,  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  made 
an  indelible  mark  on  American  history.  Its  original 
intention  had  not  included  any  expenditure  for  educa- 
tion ;  and  no  appropriation  for  that  purpose  was  made 
during  the  first  years  of  its  operation.  The  disposition 
of  abandoned  plantations,  the  promotion  of  free  labor, 
the  relief  of  poverty  and  disease,  and  the  protection  of 
the  infirm  and  of  children,  seemed  the  most  pressing 
problems  set  before  the  friends  of  the  colored  race.     Yet 

*"  Grant,  Lincoln  and  the  Freedmen,"  1907,  p.  241. 

49 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

the  educational  work  of  the  Bureau  soon  became  of  great 
extent,  and  has  remained  its  most  permanent  monu- 
ment. General  Howard  himself  has  testified  to  his  own 
appreciation  of  the  place  which  education  must  play  in 
the  redemption  of  the  colored  race,  and  incidentally  has 
indicated  the  source  from  which  the  first  expenditure  for 
this  purpose  was  derived.  "The  main  point  we  had  to 
attend  to,"  he  said  at  Hampton  in  1889,  "was  the  care 
of  the  schools.  When  Mr.  Stanton  first  gave  me  my 
commission,  I  said  to  him :  *  Mr.  Stanton,  the  true  relief 
for  these  people  is  in  education.'  *Yes,'  he  said,  'I  be- 
lieve it  is;  what  do  you  propose  to  do  V  'Well,'  I  said, 
'you  know  that  churches  and  missionary  societies  have 
already  started  schools,  but  sometimes  they  do  not  pull 
together  exactly.  I  believe  the  Bureau  ought  to  aid 
their  work  by  some  comprehensive  scheme  and  take 
general  charge  of  it.'  So  we  went  at  it.  .  .  .  You 
will  wonder  where  I  got  so  much  money.  Now  the  idea 
of  education  did  not  commend  itself  to  Congress,  but 
the  idea  of  transportation  was  immensely  popular  at 
once.  'Transportation,  transportation  !  that  is  the  idea  !* 
'Transport  them  anywhere,  if  to  Africa,  so  much  the 
better.'  So  I  got  large  appropriations  for  that  purpose 
without  any  trouble  .  .  .  [then]  I  simply  asked  Congress 
that  I  might  transfer  what  funds  were  left  to  educational 
purposes,  and  the  request  was  granted  without  any 
thought  as  to  what  it  all  meant.  ...  All  as  a  result  of 
that  quiet  flanking  operation."  * 

*  Address  at  Hampton  Institute,  1889;  Ludlow  Mss.,  pp.  515  flF. 
50 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Beginning  in  this  inconspicuous  "flanking  operation" 
the  assault  of  the  Bureau  on  the  dense  mass  of  ignorance 
among  the  Negroes  which  confronted  it  soon  became  a 
frontal  attack.  In  1865  the  modest  total  of  $27,000  was 
assigned  for  purposes  of  education  ;  but  in  1870  this  item 
had  reached  nearly  one  million  dollars ;  and  for  the  six 
years  ending  in  September  1871,  out  of  a  total  expenditure 
of  $14,996,480  the  appropriation  for  education  had  reached 
the  sum  of  $5,262,511.*  The  greater  part  of  this  sum 
was  applied  either  to  the  subsidizing  of  schools  already 
established,  or  to  the  rebuilding  of  schoolhouses  destroyed 
by  the  war.  "I  laid  down  the  principle,"  said  General 
Howard,  "that  for  every  dollar  the  Government  gives, 
there  must  come  a  dollar  from  the  people."  Thus  by 
October  1869  he  was  able  to  report  that  at  least  one 
normal  school  for  colored  people  was  in  operation  in 
each  Southern  State,  and  that  more  than  twenty  char- 
tered colleges  had  been  either  established  or  revived. 
In  1870  there  were,  under  the  direction  of  the  Bureau, 
2039  schools  with  2563  teachers  and  114,516  pupils. 
Of  these  teachers  1251  were  white  and  1312  were  colored. 
Among  these  educational  enterprises  the  most  conspicuous 
was  that  of  Howard  University,  incorporated  in  1867 
"for  the  education  of  youths  in  the  liberal  arts  and 
sciences,"  with  six  departments — normal,  collegiate, 
theological,  legal,  medical,  and  commercial.  During 
its  early  history  the  University  became  the  mark  of 
much  hostile  criticism;    but  it  remains  an  appropriate 

*  Peirce,  op.  cit.,  p.  82. 

SI 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

monument  of  that  gallant  and  much-wronged  friend 
of  the  colored  race  whose  name  it  bears. 

Such  were  the  beginnings  of  the  great  movement  of 
Negro  education,  which  was  at  first  met  by  much  hos- 
tility and  scepticism,  as  though  misleading  for  one  race 
and  dangerous  for  the  other,  but  which  has  become 
recognized  in  the  South  as  at  the  North  as  the  main 
support  both  of  loyal  citizenship  and  of  economic  effi- 
ciency among  the  multiplying  millions  of  the  colored 
race.  The  Freedmen's  Bureau  "set  going,"  Professor 
DuBois  has  justly  said,  "a  system  of  free  labor;  it  es- 
tablished the  black  peasant  proprietor;  it  secured  the 
recognition  of  black  free  men  before  courts  of  law;  it 
provided  free  public  schools  for  the  South.  ...  Its 
failure  was  the  result  of  bad  local  agents,  inherent  diffi- 
culties of  the  work,  and  National  neglect."  * 

It  was  at  the  outset  much  obstructed  also  by  the  pious 
attempt  of  Northern  teachers  to  apply  to  an  untutored 
and  tropical  race  their  own  methods  and  traditions. 
"Men  have  tried,"  as  Booker  Washington  has  said,  "to 
use  with  that  simple  people,  just  free  from  slavery  and 
with  no  past,  no  inherited  tradition  of  learning,  the  same 
methods  of  education  which  they  have  used  in  New  Eng- 
land with  all  its  inherited  traditions  and  desires."  f  Yet, 
in  spite  of  much  misdirected  devotion  within  and  much 
persistent  scepticism  without,  the  educational  work  of 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  originally  a    by-product  of  its 

*  Atlantic  Monthly^  Vol.  87,  p.  361. 
t  "  Future  of  the  American  Negro,"  1899,  p.  25. 

52 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

plan,  and  approached  by  a  **  flanking  attack,"  accelerated 
by  at  least  a  generation  the  progress  of  the  colored  race. 
Instead  of  disconnected  and  competing  groups  of  local 
enterprises,  meagrely  sustained  by  private  benevolence, 
the  training  of  Negroes,  from  elementary  schools  to 
colleges  and  universities,  had  become  recognized  as  a 
comprehensive  and  national  problem,  which  must  be 
standardized  in  form  and  adapted  to  special  needs. 
The  principle  had  become  confirmed  enough  to  prove, 
as  Dr.  Curry  later  said,  that  the  Negro  "could  be  both 
Christianized  and  educated,  and  that  upon  his  Christian- 
ization  and  his  right  education  rested  the  hope  of  his 
race  and  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  the  white  race  with 
whom  he  dwelt."  * 

More  important  than  all,  the  dependence  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  on  an  exceptional  quality  of  public-spirited 
and  self-effacing  service,  had  brought  into  the  ranks  of 
its  agents  many  teachers  and  administrators  whose  per- 
sonal influence  has  outlived  by  many  years  the  organiza- 
tion which  called  them  to  their  task.  The  Bureau,  as 
Professor  DuBois  has  justly  said,  "helped  to  discover 
these  men  and  women."  Thus  it  had  provided,  not  only 
a  scheme  of  salvation  for  the  colored  race,  but  in  many 
instances  the  more  essential  gift  of  saviours ;  and  among 
these  agents  of  redemption,  not  only  discovered  by  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau  but  through  it  discovered  to  them- 
selves, the  most  epoch-making  was  the  founder  of  Hamp- 
ton Institute.     Through  a  series  of  dramatic  experiences, 

*  op.  cit.y  p.  336. 

53 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

which  are  next  to  be  described,  he  had  been  led,  across 
sea  and  land,  through  peace  and  war,  following  the 
dreams  of  his  youth  and  the  visions  of  his  maturity, 
until  when  the  war  closed  he  stood  disheartened  at  the 
door  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  in  Washington,  where  he 
had  already  applied  in  vain  for  work  to  do.  He  had 
"sat  in  the  President's  waiting-room"  proposing  to  ask  for 
some  appointment,  but  "his  nature  rose  in  revolt;  he 
would  not  sit  in  that  throng  of  political  office-seekers." 
He  left  the  office,  walked  toward  the  station,  but  con- 
cluded to  change  his  course  and  call  at  the  office  of  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau  for  a  moment  "to  take  advantage  of 
anything  which  might  possibly  have  occurred  in  the  last 
few  hours."  As  he  entered  the  office,  one  of  General 
Howard's  aides  looked  up  and  said  :  "We  have  a  great 
lot  of  contrabands  down  on  the  Virginia  Peninsula,  and 
cannot  manage  them.  No  one  has  had  any  success  in 
keeping  them  straight.  General  Howard  thinks  you 
might  try  it."  The  man  and  the  opportunity  had  met ; 
and  even  if  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  could  find  no  other 
justification  for  its  multifarious  enterprises,  its  existence 
and  expenditure  would  be  sufficiently  vindicated  by  its 
discovery  of  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong. 


54 


CHAPTER  THREE 

THE    COMING    OF    ARMSTRONG 

THE  scene  of  this  narrative  abruptly  shifts  across  a  space 
of  four  thousand  miles  and  a  period  of  twenty-six  years, 
and  instead  of  the  tragic  desolation  of  war  and  the  be- 
wildering confusion  of  reconstruction  presents  a  picture 
of  tropical  loveliness  and  Christian  piety.  The  Hawaiian 
Islands,  twenty-one  hundred  miles  from  San  Francisco 
and  three  thousand  four  hundred  miles  from  Yokohama, 
are  justly  described  by  lovers  of  nature  as  the  Paradise 
of  the  Pacific,  and  by  students  of  politics  as  the  Key 
of  that  vast  area  of  opportunity.  The  gentle  climate 
and  luxuriant  vegetation,  the  vivid  colors  and  extraordi- 
nary beauty  both  of  land  and  sea,  together  with  the  ease 
of  procuring  the  necessities  of  life,  all  contribute  to  create 
a  hospitable,  kindly,  and  nature-worshipping  population ; 
and  when,  in  1820,  American  missionaries  undertook  the 
spiritual  conquest  of  the  Islands,  they  found  both  chiefs 
and  people  plastic  to  the  firm  touch  of  Christian  truth. 
In  1830  Richard  Armstrong,  a  youth  born  in  Phila- 
delphia of  Scotch-Irish  stock  and  a  student  at  Princeton 
Seminary,  felt  himself  called  of  God  to  the  work  of  a 
foreign  missionary,  and  after  attending  a  few  medical 
lectures  in  Philadelphia  as  a  part  of  his  preparation,  was 

55 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

appointed  by  the  American  Board  for  Foreign  Missions 
to  serve  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  In  September  1830, 
he  married  Clarissa  Chapman,  the  child  of  a  typical  New 
England  family,  bred  on  a  farm  in  Massachusetts,  accus- 
tomed to  all  forms  of  housework,  but  cultivating  a  taste 
for  water-color  painting,  and  training  herself  to  be  a 
school-teacher.  Her  brother  Reuben,  bred  in  the  same 
early  environment  of  simplicity  and  discipline,  became  in 
1868  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts and  held  that  high  office  until  his  death  in  1873. 
The  young  married  couple,  surrendering  as  they  believed 
all  worldly  prospects  in  answer  to  the  call  of  God,  sailed 
together  on  a  whaling-ship  from  New  Bedford  for  Honolulu 
in  November  1831.  Their  voyage  round  Cape  Horn  was 
prolonged  by  storms  and  imperilled  by  mutiny;  and 
within  a  year  after  their  arrival  at  Honolulu  they  were 
again  despatched  with  their  infant  daughter  on  a  further 
mission  to  the  Marquesas  Islands,  where  among  converts 
not  yet  redeemed  from  cannibalism  they  lived  as  calmly 
as  if  in  New  England.  "Mr.  Armstrong,"  his  son  records, 
"having  to  go  on  a  journey,  left  my  mother  and  the  two 
young  children  (the  second,  a  boy,  having  been  born  in 
this  remote  spot,  and  dying  soon  after  their  return  to 
Honolulu)  in  charge  of  the  head  chief,  Hope,  a  typical 
savage,  indescribably  horrid  in  his  appearance.  The  man 
lay  down  every  night  across  and  outside  mother's  house, 
so  that  no  one  could  injure  her  without  killing  him.  .  .  . 
On  our  departure  he  suggested  to  father  an  exchange  of 
wives,  but  fortunately  did  not  insist  on  it." 
56 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Returning  from  this  daring  enterprise,  the  young  mis- 
sionaries were  again  transferred  to  the  Island  of  Maui, 
three  days  from  Honolulu  by  sea,  where  for  seven  years 
Richard  Armstrong  was  not  only  the  pastor  of  a  flock  of 
25,000  natives,  but  the  physician  of  their  bodies  and  the 
administrator  of  their  industrial  life.  Saw-mills,  sugar- 
planting,  and  scientific  agriculture  became  forms  of  mis- 
sionary activity.  Of  two  churches,  "each  to  hold  1500 
people,  he  planned  and  superintended  the  whole  work 
without  any  carpenter."  His  practice  of  medicine  was 
more  casual  in  its  character  than  his  patients  were  prob- 
ably aware.  "With  natural  aptitude  and  an  experience 
afforded  by  his  own  children,"  his  son  writes,  "he  could 
attend  to  all  ordinary  cases,  even  performing  minor 
operations,  and  being  especially  skilful  with  babies.  The 
popular  dose  was  castor  oil,  which  to  the  Hawaiians  was 
a  luxury."  His  professional  salary  was  $400  a  year,  with 
$50  extra  for  each  child.  "The  natives  brought  their 
tribute  of  fruit,  vegetables,  sugar  cane,  and  guavas,  com- 
ing in  a  minimum  of  costume  from  far  and  near."  Mean- 
time his  wife,  in  addition  to  much  "practical  preaching, 
which  ranged  from  prayer  and  Bible  reading  to  cooking 
and  carpentry,"  contributed  to  the  family  income,  accord- 
ing to  the  regulations  of  the  Home  Board,  by  bearing  ten 
children,  of  whom  Samuel  was  the  sixth. 

The  reminiscences  which  his  missionary  colleagues  have 
left  of  Richard  Armstrong  are  suggestive  of  his  son. 
"His  strong  personal  magnetism,"  it  is  said,  "attracted 
and  opened  to  his  genial  sway  the  hearts  of  his  fellow- 

S7 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

men.  .  .  .  Practical  good  sense  and  magnetic  earnestness 
were  his  permanent  characteristics.  .  .  .  The  thrill  of 
life,  which  he  imparted  to  us  all,  scarcely  yet  has  spent 
its  force."  Here,  in  short,  was  foreign  missionary  work 
at  its  best, — the  father  alert,  vivacious,  and  efficient; 
the  mother  conscientious,  restrained,  and  devout;  and 
both  of  them  absolutely  fearless,  tireless,  happy  in  their 
devotion  to  a  backward  race,  and  in  obedience  to  a  call 
from  God.  Their  scheme  of  salvation  covered  the  whole 
of  life.  If  the  heathen  were  to  be  made  Christians,  they 
must  be  sound  in  body  and  controlled  in  will  as  well  as 
moved  in  heart.  "All  things  are  yours,"  the  Apostle 
had  said  to  these  apostolic  teachers,  "whether  the  Church, 
or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  present,  or  things 
to  come."  It  is  not  surprising  that  from  this  completely 
heroic  and  self-abnegating  stock  should  have  sprung  the 
most  discerning  and  inspiring  leader  of  another  backward 
race. 

The  work  of  Richard  Armstrong  had  demonstrated  to 
the  Missionary  Board  in  Boston  his  special  gift  for  admin- 
istration, and  in  1840  he  was  transferred  to  the  care  of  the 
principal  church  in  Honolulu ;  but  was  soon  summoned 
with  other  missionaries  to  advise  the  native  Government, 
and  became  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  and  later 
President  of  the  Board  of  Education.  It  was  an  extraor- 
dinary relationship  which  had  been  established  between 
Church  and  State.  The  missionaries  had  not  only  con- 
verted the  natives  to  the  Christian  religion,  but  had  con- 
verted  their   rulers   to   forms   of  representative  govern- 

58 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

ment ;  and  when  practical  measures  of  an  American  type 
were  welcomed,  the  same  men  whose  original  purpose  was 
to  preach  the  Gospel  were  summoned  to  administer  a 
kingdom  and  to  become  statesmen  as  well  as  missionaries. 
Richard  Armstrong,  **in  connection  with  Mr.  Richards 
and  Dr.  Judd,  the  Minister  of  Finance,  and,  later,  Messrs. 
Ricord  and  WyHe  and  Chief  Justice  Lee,  may  be  said 
to  have  reared  the  government  structure.  Few  kings  of 
the  earth  have  ever  had  more  disinterested  counsellors.'* 
At  Richard  Armstrong's  sudden  death  in  i860,  the 
reigning  king,  Kamehameha  IV,  wrote  of  him:  "When 
we  have  spoken  of  Dr.  Armstrong  as  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  and,  subsequently.  President  of  the  Board 
of  Education,  we  have  but  partially  described  the  im- 
portant offices  which  he  filled.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
House  of  Nobles,  of  the  King's  Privy  Council,  Secretary 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Oahu  College,  Trustee  of  the 
Queen's  Hospital,  and  Executive  Officer  of  the  Bible  and 
Tract  Society,  and  deeply  interested  in  developing  the 
agricultural  resources  of  the  kingdom.  No  other  govern- 
ment officer  or  missionary  was  brought  into  such  close 
intimacy  with  the  nation  as  a  whole."  * 

Such  were  the  antecedents  of  Samuel  Chapman  Arm- 
strong. He  was  born  on  the  Island  of  Maui  on  January 
30,  1839;  but  his  boyhood  and  youth  were  passed  among 
the  more  humanizing  opportunities  of  Honolulu.  The 
rules  of  his  home  were  rigid  and  there  was  much  of  Bible 
lessons  and  Sunday-school.     "Father's  chief  work,"  his 

*  Ludlow  Mss.,  pp.  15  ff.  < 

59 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE  , 

son  reports,  "was  preaching,  and  although  we  always 
attended  services,  the  part  we  took  in  them  was  some- 
times far  from  creditable.  ...  I  remember  that  once 
father  took  two  of  us  into  the  pulpit,  and  was  obliged  to 
interrupt  his  sermon  in  order  to  settle  a  quarrel  between 
us.  .  .  .  But  the  service  was  interesting.  .  .  .  Some- 
times when  I  stand  outside  a  Negro  church  I  get  precisely 
the  effect  of  a  Hawaiian  congregation,  the  same  fulness 
and  heartiness  and  occasionally  exquisite  voices,  and  am 
instantly  transplanted  ten  thousand  miles  away  to  the 
great  church  where  father  used  to  preach  to  twenty-five 
hundred  people,  who  swarmed  in  on  foot  and  horseback, 
from  shore  and  valley  and  mountain  for  miles  around. 
Outside  it  was  like  an  encampment;  inside  it  was  a  sea 
of  dusky  faces.  On  one  side  was  the  King's  pew  with 
scarlet  hangings,  the  royal  family  always  distinguishing 
themselves  by  coming  in  very  late  with  the  loudest 
squeaking  shoes.  The  more  the  shoes  squeaked,  the 
better  was  the  wearer  pleased ;  and  often  a  man,  after 
walking  noisily  in,  would  sit  down  and  pass  his  shoes 
through  the  window  for  his  wife  to  wear  in,  thus  doubling 
the  family  glory.  Non-musical  shoes  were  hardly  sale- 
able." 

Yet  the  restraint  of  a  Puritan  home  could  not 
check  the  animal  spirits  of  this  growing  lad,  and  his 
nature  responded  to  the  appealing  environment  of  a  land 
of  summer  and  a  sea  of  turquoise  blue.  An  out-of-doors 
boyhood  confirmed  both  his  constitution  and  his  self- 
confidence.  Missionary  journeys  with  his  father  by 
60 


P? 

^m 

i 

k 

^"^ 

jf^^^f"*^^ 

1. 

■nf^ 

jflft      1 

fer  'v 

j» 

ik 

4 

rn   Jif  ■'  |!|-^- 

mm^ 

f^^         ■,.■ 

^"^^    lit 

■ii^ 

lit 

-JBtofiwi 

f      1 

".f-fi 

»ir? 

.._-  . 

r — "^g^ 

JU, 

Ml      ■'••^ 

Bttrnvf    ;- 

.■  arM     Mia 

Ik.  ^\^ 

iiiii 

iifi! 

felt* 

BIRTHPLACE  OF   HAMPTON'S   FOUNDER 
On  the  island  of  Maui,  Hawaii 


MANSION    HOUSE,"   HAMPiON    INSIULjI'E 
Principal's  residence 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

whaleboats  and  oxcarts,  the  building  of  his  own  boat 
and  the  acquiring  from  native  teachers  of  great  skill  in 
swimming,  the  exploring  of  the  lovely  canyons  of  the 
island  and  the  bathing  in  its  cascades, — these  diversified 
forms  of  athletics  quickened  his  instinct  for  the  venture- 
some and  the  heroic,  and  made  tolerable  to  him  the  daily 
drill  in  Virgil  and  algebra.  His  diary  of  1856  recalls  the 
impression  made  by  nature  on  a  boy  seventeen  years  old, 
"In  the  afternoon,"  he  says,  ** we  came  to  a  lovely  valley 
in  which  was  a  beautiful  sheet  of  water  which  we  called 
'Pauline's  Mirror*;  exploring  the  valley  a  little  farther 
we  found  the  finest  falls  we  had  ever  seen,  at  least  200 
feet  high,  the  basin  large  and  very  deep.  Joe  and  I 
swam  under  the  falls ;  it  was  grand  and  terrible,  and  the 
beauty  of  it  made  it  all  the  more  impressive."  And 
again,  "After  an  excellent  night's  rest  we  went  up  to 
explore  the  valley,  and  suddenly  came  on  the  grandest 
scene  in  our  whole  journey.  It  was  a  cataract,  about 
400  feet  high,  falling  exactly  perpendicularly;  the  basin 
was  about  130  feet  in  diameter,  and  standing  on  the  lower 
side  the  spray  drenched  us."  And  again,  November  18, 
"Went  to  bathe  in  the  afternoon,  and  led  the  crowd  in 
sailing  over  the  great  Falls  of  the  Wailuku — did  it  three 
times.  Worked  at  my  schooner  till  long  after  breakfast, 
putting  in  two  new  sails.  The  fleet  consisted  of  Hitch- 
cock's vessel.  Mills'  schooner,  David's  schooner,  and  my 
schooner.  We  sailed  first  in  the  sea,  my  vessel  ran  out  of 
my  reach  twice,  and  I  had  to  pursue  her  in  a  canoe  and 
got  capsized."     Thus  a  mingled  skein  of  domestic  piety 

61 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  eager  athletics  was  wrought  into  his  early  life,  and 
it  is  not  surprising  that  when  later  asked  what  career  he 
was  likely  to  prefer,  he  answered:  "Missionary  or 
pirate  I"  Both  classes  of  society  were  familiar  to  him  in 
Honolulu. 

The  impressions  early  received  of  the  privileges  and  the 
defects  of  missionary  service  sank  meantime  into  his 
character  and  gave  direction  to  his  later  career.  Writing 
many  years  later,  and  after  testing  under  other  conditions 
the  teachings  of  his  early  life,  he  said,  in  words  which  judi- 
cious missionary  Boards  have  come  to  welcome  more  than 
in  earlier  generations,  as  expressing  their  working  faith : 
"The  one  great  lesson  of  the  Hawaiian  mission  is,  I  believe, 
that  we  must  more  and  more  recognize  the  value  and 
necessity  of  practical  training  of  the  whole  Hfe.  .  .  . 
Ideas  take  root  in  a  moment,  habits  only  in  a  generation. 
This  means  the  uplifting  of  the  whole  man  by  God's 
grace,  and  by  every  means  that  human  wisdom  suggests, 
and  then  by  protecting  him  from  harm  until  he  is 
thoroughly  established  in  well-doing  and  can  aid  himself, 
which  must  be  a  matter  of  time  and  habit."  His  father,  as 
Minister  of  Education,  had  established  a  "Royal  School," 
later  known  as  Oahu  College.  It  was  specifically  designed 
for  the  education  of  future  rulers  of  the  kingdom ;  and 
a  graduate  of  Williams  College  and  Andover  Seminary, 
Rev.  E.  G.  Beckwith,  was  imported  as  teacher.  Fifteen 
young  chiefs  were  submitted  to  his  instruction,  and  about 
fifty  children  of  the  leading  missionaries  were  permitted 
to  enroll  themselves  in  the  school.  The  teachers  of  the 
62 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

school  thus  wielded,  according  to  young  Armstrong,  "an 
almost  world-wide  influence,  and  they  taught  me  that  the 
work  of  a  teacher,  while  often  obscure  and  weak,  may 
be  the  most  vital  and  far-reaching  that  a  man  can  do." 

In  1 860  his  father  was  suddenly  killed  by  a  fall  from  his 
horse,  and  the  paternal  wish  that  the  son  Samuel  should 
finish  his  education  at  Williams  College  determined  the 
youth  to  an  immediate  departure,  and  he  was  admitted  at 
the  age  of  twenty  to  the  Junior  Class.  "  It  was,  I  think, 
in  the  winter  of  i860,"  writes  a  classmate,  "when  I  was 
rooming  in  East  College  at  Williams,  that  into  my  intro- 
spective life  Nature  flung  a  sort  of  cataclysm  of  health 
named  Sam  Armstrong,  like  other  cyclones,  from  the 
South  Seas;  a  Sandwich  Islander,  son  of  a  missionary. 
Until  Miss  Murfree  wrote  her  *  Prophet  of  the  Great 
Smoky  Mountains,*  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
describe  Armstrong's  immediate  personal  effect.  There 
was  a  quality  in  it  that  defied  the  ordinary  English 
vocabulary.  To  use  the  eastern  Tennessee  dialect,  which 
alone  could  do  him  justice,  he  was  'plumb  survigrous.* 
To  begin  with,  as  Mark  Twain  might  express  it,  he  had 
been  fortunate  in  the  selection  of  his  parents.  The  roots 
of  his  nature  struck  deep  into  the  soil  of  two  strong  races. 
.  .  .  Then,  too,  he  was  an  Islander;  his  constitution 
smacked  of  the  seas.  There  was  about  him  something  of 
the  high  courage  and  jollity  of  the  tar ;  he  carried  with 
him  the  vitalities  of  the  ocean.  Like  all  those  South  Sea 
Islanders,  he  had  been  brought  up  to  the  water;  it  had 
imparted  to  him  a  kind  of  mental  as  well  as  physical 

63 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

amphibiousness.  It  seemed  natural  for  him  to  strike 
out  in  any  element. 

"  But  what  impressed  one  most  was  his  schooling.  Not 
but  that  it  was  in  unison  with  the  man ;  it  was,  in  fact, 
remarkably  so ;  but  it  was  so  entirely  out  of  the  com- 
mon— so  free-handed  and  virile.  His  father  had  been 
minister  of  public  instruction  at  Hawaii.  The  son  ac- 
companied him  on  his  official  tours  and  had  been  let 
into  the  business.  He  could  manage  a  boat  in  a  storm, 
teach  school,  edit  a  newspaper,  assist  in  carrying  on  a 
government,  take  up  a  mechanical  industry  at  will,  under- 
stand the  natives,  sympathize  with  missionaries,  talk 
with  profound  theorists,  recite  well  in  Greek  or  mathe- 
matics, conduct  an  advanced  class  in  geometry,  and  make 
no  end  of  fun  for  little  children.  In  short,  he  was  a 
striking  illustration  of  the  Robinson-Crusoe-like  multi- 
formity of  function  that  grows  up  perforce  under  the 
necessities  of  a  missionary  station.  New  England  energy, 
oceanic  breeziness,  missionary  environment,  disclosed 
themselves  in  him. 

"Such  was  Armstrong,  as  he  came  into  my  life,  bring- 
ing his  ozone  with  him.  .  .  .  He  was  a  trifle  above  middle 
height,  broad-shouldered,  with  large,  well-poised  head, 
forehead  high  and  wide,  deep-set  flashing  eyes,  a  long 
mane  of  light-brown  hair,  his  face  very  brown  and  sailor- 
like. He  bore  his  head  high  and  carried  about  an  air  of 
insolent  good  health.  .  .  .  Intellectually  he  was  a  leader. 
Spiritually  he  was  religious,  with  a  deep  reverence  for  his 
father's  life  and  work.  .  .  .  Yet  all  felt  him  to  be  under 
64 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

great  terrestrial  headway.  Sometimes  he  seemed  to  have 
little  respect  for  the  spiritual ;  he  shocked  people  by  his 
levity  and  irreverence.  Yet  there  was  about  him  at  all 
times  a  profound  reverence  of  spirit  for  God,  manhood, 
womanhood,  and  all  sacred  realities.  Indeed,  with  him 
reverence  and  religion  alike  were  matters  not  of  form, 
but  of  inward  principle  whose  application  he  had  not  yet 
mastered.  Other  men  were  original  in  thought;  he  was 
original  in  character;  but  above  all  there  was  an  im- 
mediacy of  nature."  * 

It  was  his  father's  dying  wish  that  the  youth  should 
be  committed  to  the  direction  of  Mark  Hopkins,  the 
distinguished  President  of  Williams  College,  who  was,  as 
Armstrong's  friend  Denison  described  him,  "a  great 
philosopher,  a  skilled  dialectician,  an  illuminating 
preacher,  a  devoted  Christian,  but  above  all  with  a 
genius  for  teaching."  f  Early  in  1861  Armstrong  was 
permitted  to  share  a  room  in  Dr.  Hopkins's  house  with 
the  son  of  the  President,  and  his  consequent  intimacy 
with  the  great  teacher  became  the  most  formative  influ- 
ence of  young  Armstrong's  life.  "I  am,"  he  wrote,  "the 
first  student  who  has  roomed  in  Prexy's  new  house." 
"I  never  saw  his  equal,"  the  pupil  later  said.  "What- 
ever good  teaching  I  may  have  done,  has  been  Mark 
Hopkins  teaching  through  me." 

In  the  spring  of  1861  there  swept  through  this  tranquil 
community  at  Williams  College,  like  a  black  thunder-cloud 

*  J.  H.  Denison,  In  Atlantic  Monthly,  Feb.  1894. 
t  Southern  Workman,  March  1903,  p.  166. 

65 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

settling  over  Greylock,  the  storm  of  Civil  War.  "The 
students,"  wrote  Armstrong,  "are  all  drilling  in  military 
manoeuvres;  there  will  be  fighting  soon."  Curiously 
enough,  however,  the  athletic  and  daring  young  Islander 
did  not  at  once  feel  the  call  of  patriotism.  The  happy 
associations  and  domestic  intimacies  of  his  boyhood's 
home  had  made  of  him  a  man  with  a  very  small  country. 
"I  shall  go  to  the  war,"  he  wrote,  "if  I  am  needed,  but 
not  till  then.  Were  I  an  American,  as  I  am  a  Hawaiian, 
I  should  be  off  in  a  hurry."  Writing  again  of  his  brother, 
he  says:  "People  take  Will  for  an  American,  and  think 
he  must  do  an  American's  duty."  "On  the  whole," 
he  writes  as  late  as  September  15,  1861,  "there  is  very 
little  prospect  of  Will's  and  my  going  to  the  war."  Thus 
he  began  his  senior  year  at  Williamstown,  1861-62,  as 
though  the  war  were  no  aflPair  of  his,  and  yielded  his  mind 
to  the  metaphysics  of  Dr.  Hopkins.  "This,"  he  wrote, 
"is  going  to  be  a  glorious  term  for  me;  we  have  come 
to  the  cream  of  our  college  course ;  the  greatest  mind  in 
New  England  will  take  and  train  us.  .  .  .  Politics  and 
war  matters  are  progressing  steadily,  but  the  excitement 
is  not  nearly  as  intense  as  you  imagine." 

On  October  15,  1861,  however,  the  wave  of  national- 
ism threatened  to  overwhelm  him.  "This  evening,"  he 
writes,  "during  class  prayer-meeting,  while  a  fellow  was 
praying,  I  took  a  notion  that  I'd  enlist  for  three  months 
in  McClellan's  Body  Guard,  for  I  have  a  chance  to  get 
in  as  a  private  there.  But  talking  it  over  with  Prex,  he 
told  me  that  I  could  not  honestly  get  out  of  the  army 
66 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

after  getting  in,  and  I  gave  up  the  idea,  as  I  am  not  willing 
to  lose  my  senior  year."  The  Christmas  holidays  of  this 
winter  were  spent  by  young  Armstrong  in  New  York, 
where  he  visited  various  institutions  for  missionary  service 
and  found  himself  as  a  missionary's  son  called  on  to  speak 
of  religion.  "Most  unexpectedly,"  he  writes  of  such  a 
meeting,  "the  Chairman  called  on  me  to  speak,  and  I 
had  to  get  up  and  say  something.  I  spoke  over  half  an 
hour,  principally  on  the  duties  and  relations  of  commercial 
men.  ...  I  tell  this  rather  as  a  confession  than  a  boast." 
His  last  term  in  college  was  preoccupied  with  study,  inter- 
rupted by  little  of  the  restlessness  which  would  have 
seemed  natural  in  so  active  a  mind.  He  was  still  a  Ha- 
waiian, and  his  judgments  of  Negro  slavery  were  softened 
by  his  recollection  of  the  gentle  paternalism  which  he  had 
witnessed  among  the  natives  of  the  Pacific,  where  the 
harsher  methods  of  the  Southern  States  had  been  un- 
known. Yet  when  one  considers  the  excitement  which 
prevailed,  and  the  rush  of  youths  to  the  colors,  the  self- 
restraint  and  sense  of  neutrality  exhibited  by  a  young 
man  who  was  in  every  fibre  of  his  temperament  a  soldier, 
is  an  extraordinary  evidence  of  maturity  and  poise. 

No  sooner  had  he  received  his  degree  than  he  wrote : 
"I  am  in  for  the  army."  He  proposed  to  enlist  as  a  pri- 
vate, but  his  friends  assured  him,  in  words  which  a  greater 
war  has  made  familiar,  "that  educated  men  were  needed 
for  responsible  positions";  and  with  the  consent  of  a 
regimental  officer.  Colonel  Willard,  the  young  graduate 
hastened  to  Troy,  N.  Y.,  pitched  a  tent  in  a  public  square, 

67 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  called  for  recruits,  "stumping  it,"  as  he  writes,  "in  the 
small  towns  of  the  neighborhood."^  His  missionary  ante- 
cedents made  him  welcome  in  the  neighboring  churches, 
and  confidence  in  his  character  promoted  enlistment 
under  him.  His  recruits  numbered,  as  he  wrote  in  his 
diary,  "some  of  the  very  meanest  and  the  very  best  men; 
some  enlist  for  money,  and  some  for  love  of  country; 
sometimes  men  of  means  and  family  come  forward  and 
enter  the  ranks  as  privates." 

Crude  and  elementary  as  such  volunteering  must  have 
been,  it  had  the  merit  of  establishing  from  the  outset  a 
singular  intimacy  between  officers  and  men.  Nobody 
knew  much  about  soldiering.  All  were  groping  their  way 
into  unknown  perils.  All  were  conscious  of  ignorance  and 
eager  to  learn.  Yet  it  was  the  best  of  opportunities  for 
a  natural  leader.  Uninstructed  as  he  might  be  in  military 
science,  the  fundamental  qualities  of  decision,  self-dis- 
cipline, courage,  and  cheerfulness  made  their  immediate 
impression.  Meantime  he  studied  tactics  under  Colonel 
Willard,  and,  having  completed  the  enlistment  of  a  hun- 
dred men,  was  sworn  in  as  captain.  As  their  regiment, 
the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  New  York,  was 
about  to  leave  Troy,  a  sword  was  presented  to  him  in 
one  of  the  churches,  and  following  a  practice  to  which 
many  more  experienced  orators  might  confess  that  they 
had  yielded,  he  utilized — as  he  records — for  his  reply, 
what  he  had  prepared  for  Commencement  at  Williams 
College,  but  had  not  been  able  to  deliver.  "I  succeeded," 
he  wrote,  "in  giving  that  blood-and-thunder  speech,  but 
68 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

it  was  in  a  church  and  not  in  a  college."  Reaching  New 
York  the  regiment  encamped  in  City  Hall  Park,  where  one 
of  his  men,  with  the  intimacy  of  a  volunteer,  approached 
his  officer  and  remarked :  "  I  say,  Captain,  where  can 
I  get  a  drink  of  water?"  Captain  Armstrong,  as  his 
brother  relates,  "started  off  to  get  water  for  him,  but  I 
said:  *It  seems  to  me  not  very  good  miHtary  discipline 
to  be  running  round  for  water  for  your  men.'  Captain 
Armstrong,  however,  replied  :  'The  men  must  have  water, 
and  I  am  bound  to  see  that  they  get  it.'  "  His  regiment 
left  for  the  front  that  night. 

The  first  undertaking  of  these  raw  recruits  was  patheti- 
cally futile.  Hurried  to  the  front  on  August  30,  1862, 
the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth  New  York  reached 
Harper's  Ferry  on  September  2d,  just  in  time  to  be 
"bagged  with  more  than  12,000  Northern  troops  by  the 
raid  of  Stonewall  Jackson.  It  was  absurd,"  he  wrote  his 
mother  later,  "to  send  our  raw  recruits  to  such  a  place.  .  .  . 
I  stood  up  in  full  view  of  the  enemy's  guns,  my  men  hidden 
in  a  little  ravine.  .  .  .  Some  of  our  colonels  advised  that 
we  cut  our  way  out  that  night,  and  we  could  have  done  it, 
but  our  generals  would  not  allow  it.  All  the  cavalry,  some 
two  thousand  men,  escaped.  .  .  .  Our  helplessness  be- 
came apparent;  our  artillery  had  exhausted  their  muni- 
tions. .  .  .  Our  Colonel  wept  bitterly  at  the  sight.  I 
have  talked  much  with  the  rebels  since  our  surrender,  and 
they  are  very  civil  and  intelligent,  though  most  miserably 
dressed.  I  saw  the  famous  Stonewall  Jackson,  my  captor. 
He  dresses  like  the  rest  in  dirty  gray  clothes,  but  he  is  a 

69 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

trump.  He  wore  a  hat,  which  his  men  called  his  new  hat, 
but  it  was  war-worn  enough.  .  .  .  Not  a  syllable  of  exul- 
tation did  we  hear  from  them,  and  with  good  reason  per- 
haps. McClellan's  guns  had  been  roaring  all  day,  and  a 
huge  battle  was  surging  some  miles  away.  There  might  be 
a  slip  'twixt  cup  and  lip.  .  .  .  Jackson  was  very  anxious 
to  get  us  off,  in  fact,  so  very  anxious  that  he  galloped 
off  and  left  us  with  his  generals.  No  paroles  were  signed 
by  us.  We  were  paroled  as  a  regiment,  and  even  that 
parole  was  left  incomplete."  *  Back  from  their  first 
battle-field  trudged  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth, 
less  unruly  than  many  of  their  companions,  but  encoun- 
tering many  hardships,  and  with  difficulty  restrained  from 
insubordination,  for  they  found  themselves  despatched, 
not,  as  they  had  anticipated,  to  their  homes,  but  to  a 
parole-camp  near  Lake  Michigan.  It  was  a  melancholy 
ending  of  a  march  which  began  amid  the  shouting  and 
cheers  of  thousands  of  people,  "waving  their  handker- 
chiefs and  little  flags,"  not  more  than  a  month  before. 
Captain  Armstrong  was  detained  in  this  exasperating 
inaction  until  November,  when  his  regiment  was  ordered 
to  strengthen  the  reserves  of  McClellan's  army,  and 
remained  in  this  position  while  Burnside  lost  the  Battle 
of  Fredericksburg  and  Hooker  the  Battle  of  Chancellors- 
ville.  Not  until  the  decisive  days  of  Gettysburg  arrived, 
in  July,  1863,  did  the  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-Fifth 
New  York  have  its  fighting  chance,  or  Armstrong  an  op- 
portunity to  prove  himself  a  commander.    "  On  the  second 

*  Ludlow  Mss.,  p.  243. 
70 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

of  July,"  he  wrote  immediately  after  the  battle,  "we  were 
drawn  up  between  two  batteries,  and  sustained  a  violent 
cannonade,  lying  on  our  faces  in  an  orchard — that  is,  most 
of  us.  I  preferred  to  take  my  chance  standing  and  watch- 
ing the  fight.  After  some  time  our  brigade  was  marched 
off  to  the  left  centre,  fell  into  line,  and  charged  into  a  valley 
full  of  rebels,  who  were  sheltered  by  a  dense  growth  of 
underbrush.  As  we  advanced  with  fixed  bayonets  and 
began  to  fire,  they  yelled  out  from  the  trees,  *  Do  not  fire 
on  your  own  men.'  We  ceased  to  fire  and  the  *rebs'  who 
had  so  deceived  us  gave  us  Hail  Columbia,  and  dropped 
some  of  our  best  men.  Those  fellows  were  the  famous 
Louisiana  Tigers ;  but  we  rushed  at  them  with  fixed  bayo- 
nets, drove  them  out  of  the  brush,  and  plunged  our  fire 
into  them  as  they  ran.  This  was  our  first  fight — my  first 
— and  a  long  curiosity  was  satisfied ;  men  fell  dead  all 
around  me ;  a  sergeant  who  stood  behind  me  in  line  was 
killed ;  and  heaps  were  wounded  in  the  charge ;  I  was 
pleasantly,  though  perhaps  dangerously,  situated ;  I  did 
not  allow  a  man  to  get  ahead  of  me." 

The  following  day  was  that  of  Pickett's  charge.  In 
a  confidential  letter  to  his  mother  Armstrong  thus  de- 
scribed it :  "We  were  ordered  to  charge  the  rebel  skir- 
mishers ;  it  was  a  foolish  order,  a  fatal  one.  I  led  that 
charge  if  any  did,  jumping  on  my  feet  and  waving  my 
sword  for  the  men  to  follow.  .  .  .  The  bullets  flew  like 
hail  over  my  head,  and  it  was  not  safe  lying  down.  .  .  . 
Finally  the  rebels  came  out  of  the  woods  in  three  long  lines 
several  hundred  yards  apart,  with    glittering   bayonets 

71 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  battle-flags  flying.  It  was  grand  to  see  those  lines 
going  up,  and  I  trembled  for  our  cause.  I  felt  no  fear, 
though  I  never  forgot  that  at  any  moment  I  might  fall. 
The  responsibility  and  the  high  duty  assigned  to  me  sus- 
tained me,  and  it  was  wonderful  that  my  own  men  did 
not  shoot  me,  they  were  so  excited.  Well,  we  turned  the 
rebel  flank,  and  no  wonder,  for  we  did  terrible  execution. 
The  first  line  broke  and  ran ;  the  second  came  on  and  also 
broke  and  scattered,  though  they  were  brave  as  lions,  and 
their  dead  lay  close  up  to  their  line,  and  one  of  their  color- 
bearers  fell  over  one  of  our  field-pieces.  .  .  .  Keep  this 
letter  in  the  family,"  he  adds  in  a  postscript,  "it  is  too 
egotistical  to  show."  * 

The  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  which  had  saved  the  North 
from  invasion,  had  not  less  definitely  saved  Captain  Arm- 
strong from  the  self-distrust  and  nervous  tension  which 
had  been  developed  by  inactivity.  He  had  found  himself, 
and  still  more  conspicuously,  he  had  been  discovered  by 
his  men.  Writing  again  in  confidence  to  his  mother,  he 
said  of  his  men:  "At  first  for  months  they  hated  me; 
...  it  was  because  I  was  strict  and  paid  no  respect  to 
their  unmilitary  and  unmanly  humors.  But  finally,  es- 
pecially after  Gettysburg,  all  this  changed,  .  .  .  and  now 
I  have  the  utmost  confidence  of  almost  every  man  in  the 
regiment.  ...  I  know  it  and  I  love  them.  They  have 
said  they  would  *  go  to  the  devil '  for  me."  His  fearlessness 
in  the  face  of  death,  his  daring  leadership  in  attack,  and 
the  judicious  disposition  of  his  men  in  battle,  not  only 

•  Ludlow  Mss.,  p.  351. 
72 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

marked  him  for  promotion,  but  gave  him  confidence  in 
those  abrupt  decisions  and  daring  ventures  which  marked 
his  later  Hfe.  The  regimental  history  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Twenty-Fifth  New  York,  in  its  account  of 
Pickett's  repulse,  remarked:  "Distinct  record  should  go 
into  general  history  of  Captain  Armstrong's  brave  and 
skilful  action  at  that  important  point  of  battle.  ...  Of 
the  five  officers  who  served  with  Captain  Armstrong  in 
his  brave  action,  he  was  the  only  survivor." 

The  fortune  of  war  contributed  to  Armstrong's  advance- 
ment. His  Colonel  was  killed  at  Gettysburg,  and  his 
Lieutenant  Colonel  was  summoned  to  Washington  by  the 
illness  of  his  wife.  Armstrong  was  therefore  made  Major, 
his  commission  to  date  from  July  2d,  and  was  left  in 
command  of  the  regiment.  On  July  27  he  was  detailed 
for  recruiting  service,  and  was  again  condemned  to  in- 
action and  to  an  irksome  task.  Again,  however,  he  was 
led  by  an  unwelcomed  way  to  an  unsought  end.  The 
comparative  leisure  of  these  months  in  the  North,  and 
the  discussions  which  he  heard  on  every  side  concerning 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  turned  his  thoughts 
with  increasing  seriousness  to  the  cause  of  the  Negro. 
As  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  itself,  so  here  again  his 
sympathies  were  not  quickly  roused.  Early  experience 
of  a  dependent  and  indolent  people  in  the  mid-Pacific 
inclined  him  to  a  tolerant  view  of  white  domination,  and 
to  a  limited  confidence  in  the  capacity  of  a  tropical  race 
for  self-development.  Writing  to  Archibald  Hopkins 
in  December  1862,  he  said  :  "I  am  a  sort  of  Abolitionist, 

73 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

but  I  have  not  learned  to  love  the  Negro.  I  believe  in 
universal  freedom ;  I  believe  the  whole  world  cannot 
buy  a  single  soul.  The  Almighty  has  set,  or  rather  limited, 
the  price  of  one  man,  and  until  worlds  can  be  paid  for  a 
single  soul,  I  do  not  believe  in  selling  or  buying  them. 
So  I  go  in  for  freeing  them,  more  on  account  of  their 
souls  than  their  bodies."  In  a  letter  to  his  mother 
January  2,  1863,  while  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
was  ringing  in  his  ears,  he  reached  a  somewhat  more 
sanguine  view.  "The  slaves  are  free,  and  as  long  as  the 
war  is  to  sustain  the  President's  Proclamation,  I  am  in  for 
it.  If  his  Proclamation  shall  be  cancelled  in  any  way, 
I  think  I  shall  resign."  Finally,  writing  from  New  York 
to  Hopkins  in  September  1863,  he  had  reached  a  point 
where  he  was  able  to  say:  **I  hope  that  until  every 
slave  can  call  himself  his  own,  and  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren his  own,  the  sword  will  not  cease  from  among  us, 
and  I  care  not  how  many  the  evils  that  attend  it ;  it 
will  all  be  just." 

That  a  nature  so  precipitate  and  impetuous  should 
have  approached  the  mission  of  its  later  life  with  so 
gradual  a  change  of  heart  is  a  most  impressive  evidence 
of  an  interior  tranquillity  of  mind.  Just  as  Arm- 
strong had  at  first  regarded  the  war  itself  as  not  in- 
volving a  Hawaiian,  and  by  sober  reflection  was  led  on 
to  passionate  loyalty  and  fearless  service,  so  now  his 
devotion  to  the  colored  troops  was  not  that  of  a  fanatic, 
but  the  slowly  reasoned  conclusion  of  his  observation  of 
events  and  the  logical  outcome  of  his  faith  in  Hberty. 
74 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

The  work  to  which  his  later  life  was  dedicated  was  not 
based  on  emotional  sympathies,  nor  on  the  traditions  of 
Abolitionism,  but  on  a  maturing  view  of  life  and  duty. 
With  high  satisfaction  he  returned  to  his  regiment  in 
October  1863,  but  the  problem  of  utilizing  Negroes  as 
soldiers  repeatedly  recurred  to  his  mind,  and  roused 
the  missionary  impulses  in  his  blood.  The  call  which 
soon  came  to  him  was  the  more  appealing  because  it 
involved  peculiar  risks.  Officers  of  Negro  troops  were, 
it  had  been  announced  by  Confederate  leaders,  to  be  dealt 
with,  if  captured,  as  "inciting  servile  insurrection." 
That  was  enough  to  determine  Armstrong's  action.  He 
applied  for  a  command  in  a  black  regiment,  "passed  a 
rigid  examination,  for  only  men  of  special  fitness  were 
deemed  qualified  to  lead  in  a  service  demanding  not  only 
intelligence,  skill,  and  patience,  but  unusual  daring,"* 
and  in  November  was  appointed  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the 
Ninth  regiment  of  United  States  Colored  Troops,  joining 
his  new  command  in  Maryland.  At  last,  without  con- 
sciousness of  its  significance,  and  obeying  his  conscience 
rather  than  his  inclination,  the  young  soldier  stood  face 
to  face  with  the  purpose  of  his  life. 

The  first  impression  made  on  him  by  his  new  recruits 
in  their  camp  life  was  of  the  dramatic  quality  which  dis- 
tinguished them  from  white  soldiers.  Playfulness,  pathos, 
quick  emotion,  and  appealing  music  met  him  on  every 
hand.  The  contrast  with  the  more  prosaic  Northern 
soldiers  excited  his  sense  of  the  picturesque.     A  private 

*  Ludlow  Mss.,  p.  347. 

75 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

soldier  dies,  and  Armstrong  writes  of  the  funeral :  "The 
same  service  that  is  read  at  the  funeral  of  sovereigns  was 
read  at  the  grave  of  the  slave-soldier,  .  .  .  the  humblest 
man  in  the  army,  .  .  .  who,  had  it  not  been  for  the  free- 
dom we  gave  him,  might  have  been  beaten  to  death  and 
tumbled  into  a  pit."  His  men  need  recreation,  and  ath- 
letic sports  are  planned  for  them,  and  an  "ox  roasted  whole 
for  the  regiment."  He  listens  to  them  singing  round  the 
camp  fire,  and  for  the  first  time  feels  the  poignancy  of  the 
Negro  "Spirituals."  "Much  of  it,"  he  writes,  "was  rude, 
uncouth  music,  and  the  officers  complained  of  it.  One 
night  I  was  drawn  out  of  my  tent  by  a  wonderful  chorus. 
The  men  had  struck  up  an  old  church  hymn :  *They  look 
like  men  of  war ;  all  arm'd  and  dress'd  in  uniform,  they 
look  like  men  of  war.'  It  fitted  the  scene,  and  their 
hearty  singing  of  it  sent  through  me  a  sensation  I  shall 
never  forget.  It  became  their  battle-hymn.  These 
were  the  dramatics  of  war."  *  Such  was  the  first  hearing 
of  that  thrilling  lyric,  in  which  militarism  was  translated 
into  piety,  and  which  throughout  the  history  of  Hampton 
Institute  has  been  treasured  as  the  Founder's  favorite 
hymn. 

Thus,  by  successive  experiences  of  sympathy  and 
fellowship  his  heart  was  won  to  a  new  loyalty,  and  the 
perilous  venture  of  an  officer  of  Negro  troops  became  to 
him  a  high  and  happy  privilege.  In  March  1864  he 
sailed   with    1300   colored   soldiers   for   Hilton   Head   in 

*  Edith  Armstrong  Talbot,  "  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong,  A  Biographical 
Study,"  1904,  pp.  106  flF. 

7^ 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

South  Carolina,  and  writing  on  shipboard  to  his  mother 
makes  private  confession  of  his  newly  attained  faith  in  the 
Negro  race.  "Since  entering  this  branch  of  the  service, 
I  have  felt  the  high  duty  and  sacredness  of  my  position. 
It  is  no  sacrifice  for  me  to  be  here ;  it  is  rather  a  glorious 
opportunity,  and  I  would  be  nowhere  else  if  I  could,  and 
nothing  else  than  an  officer  of  colored  troops  if  I  could. 
.  .  .  Do  not  let  such  things  as  this,"  he  adds,  "be  read 
or  told  out  of  the  family."  That  was  a  long  way  to 
come  in  fifteen  months,  since  the  same  young  man  had 
written:   "I  have  not  learned  to  love  the  Negro." 

The  expedition  to  South  Carolina  was  for  defensive 
rather  than  offensive  purposes,  and  Armstrong's  regiment 
was  detained  there  for  four  months  without  serious  fight- 
ing. "I  am  in  command  of  a  picket  line,"  he  writes,  "not 
over  a  mile  from  the  enemy.  .  .  .  But  it  is  very  probable 
that  there  will  be  no  fighting  here.  .  .  .  Just  in  front  of 
my  camp  two  causeways  run  out  to  meet,  and  .  .  .  there 
are  a  rebel  and  a  Union  picket  post  on  either  end  and  the 
men  frequently  talk  to  each  other.  .  .  .  This  chagrins 
me  terribly — to  feel  what  glorious  things  the  Northern 
Army  is  doing  and  to  think  of  our  inactivity.  ...  I 
would  have  sacrificed  rank,  pay,  and  everything  for  a 
musket  and  a  place  in  the  line  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  ...  I  would  rather  grind  a  hand-organ  for 
the  edification  of  the  mule-teams  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  thai  receive  a  dress  parade  of  a  regiment  down 
here." 

His  longing  for  action  was  satisfied  in  August   1864, 

77 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

when  his  command  was  "suddenly  ordered  to  Virginia 
as  part  of  a  Colored  Brigade,  and  posted  on  the  defense 
line  of  earthworks  on  the  James  River,  in  full  view  of  the 
rebels  and  their  works,  which  were  some  600  yards  dis- 
tant." Within  a  week  he  could  write  to  his  mother: 
"I  have  been  in  three  small  fights,  lost  about  icx)  men, 
killed  and  wounded,  out  of  my  regiment.  .  .  .  We  are 
bound  for  glory  with  a  fair  wind.  .  .  .  There  is  nothing 
but  working  and  fighting  ahead."  He  felt  to  the  full  the 
passion  of  battle  and  this  is  his  report  to  his  mother  of  a 
futile  charge:  "Next  day  there  was  a  bloody  assault 
on  the  enemy's  works,  which  were  captured  and  my  Reg't 
was  sent  to  occupy  a  portion  of  them.  I  went  in  under 
a  heavy  front  and  flank-fire — got  into  position  in  the  rifle 
pits,  and  for  fifteen  minutes  or  more  we  had  it  hot  and 
heavy.  My  men  fell  fast  but  never  flinched — they  fired 
coolly  and  won  great  praise.  I  walked  along  the  line 
3  or  4  times  and  as  the  work  was  hardly  breast-high  was 
much  exposed.  I  passed  many  killed  along  my  path  and 
the  wounded  went  in  numbers  to  the  rear.  Finally, 
however,  the  rebs  flanked  us  on  the  left  and  forced  us  out. 
We  retired  in  good  order  and  finally  got  together  as  tired 
as  we  could  well  be,  as  the  timber  near  the  rebel  works  was 
all  slashed  (cut  down  to  impede  marching)  and  we  had 
marched  fast  a  mile  to  fight — in  fact  we  were  worn  out, 
I  was  wholly  exhausted  from  my  efforts  at  the  rifle  pit 
and  could  hardly  stand.  But  orders  came  and  off"  we 
went  to  retake  the  rifle  pits.  My  worn-out  regiment  and 
half  another  were  ordered  to  do  what  a  whole  white  Brigade 
78 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

had  done  before,  and  to  take  works  which  twice  their 
number  had  just  failed  to  hold  against  the  enemy.  We 
were  to  attack  5  times  our  number,  and  that  too,  behind 
strong  works  protected  by  timber  felled  in  front.  It 
was  madness  in  our  General — it  was  death  to  us — sure 
death — total  annihilation.  The  order  was  given — 'For- 
ward.' Off  we  went,  cheerfully,  to  our  doom.  I  never 
felt  more  calm  and  ready  for  anything — but  just  as  we 
had  advanced  a  few  yards,  another  General  came  up 
and  ordered  us  to  halt  and  not  attack.  He  saved  us. 
He  was  Gen.  Terry." 

The  regiment  lay  before  Petersburg  from  the  end  of 
August  until  October,  with  varied  experiences  of  skir- 
mishing raids  and  picketing.  "Our  arrangement  is 
not  to  fire  at  night,  but  to  kill  all  we  can  during  the 
day.  (This  has  been  agreed  to  by  the  rebs.).  .  .  The 
rebels  have  a  funny  way  of  having  prayer-meetings 
in  their  trenches,  and  praying  so  loud  that  we  can 
hear  them."  On  one  occasion  he  foregathered  with 
Confederate  officers  under  a  flag  of  truce.  "I  forgot  in 
my  last  to  tell  you,"  he  writes,  "about  the  flag  of  truce 
in  our  Campaign  at  Deep  Bottom,  over  the  James  River 
— it  was  to  bury  our  dead,  and,  being  in  command  of  our 
picket  line  that  day,  I  was  present.  We  met  the  rebels 
half  way  between  the  lines;  I  saw  thousands  of  them 
swarming  their  works  and  scored  came  to  meet  us,  bring- 
ing on  stretchers  the  ghastly,  horribly  mutilated  dead 
whom  we  had  lost  in  the  charge  of  the  day  previous. 
The  sight — and  smell — would  have  made  you  wild,  but 

79 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

we  are  used  to  it,  I  had  no  particular  business  and  so  I 
talked  with  the  rebel  officers  and  found  myself  conversing 
with  Colonel  Little,  of  the  Eleventh  Georgia  Reg't,  and 
with  the  rebel  Gen.  Gary.  They  were  very  gentlemanly 
and  we  had  a  delightful  chat,  or  rather  argument,  of  two 
hours ;  the  Colonel  being  very  social  and  jovial,  and  the 
General  trying  hard  to  convince  me  that  slavery  is  Divine 
and  that  I  was  wrong.  I  frankly  told  him  that  I  was  a 
foreigner,  a  Sandwich  Islander,  who  had  no  local  sym- 
pathies, but,  seeing  the  great  issue  to  be  that  of  freedom 
or  slavery  for  4,000,000  souls,  had  given  myself  to  the  war 
cheerfully  and  counted  no  sacrifice  too  great  for  the  cause. 
I  told  them  I  commanded  a  Colored  Regiment,  and  all 
this,  instead  of  disgusting  them  seemed  to  win  their 
respect — rather  unusual,  since  officers  of  Negro  troops 
are  commonly  despised  in  the.  South.  The  General  said 
he  thought  it  more  reasonable  to  fight  as  I  was  doing  for 
a  principle  than  to  fight  merely  to  restore  a  Union  which 
was  only  a  compact,  and  to  which  they  were  not  morally 
bound  when  they  considered  the  other  side  had  violated 
the  agreement.  The  truth  is,  I  partially  agreed  with  him. 
The  Union  is  to  me  little  or  nothing ;  I  see  no  great  prin- 
ciple necessarily  involved  in  it.  I  see  only  the  4,000,000 
slaves,  and  for  and  with  them  I  fight.  The  rebs  told  me 
they  buried  a  good  many  of  our  colored  men,  for  they 
were  the  very  men  we  had  fought  the  day  before." 

In  October  1864  the  strain  of  this  continuous  service  in 
the  trenches,  and  "the  extreme  vigilance  we  are  obliged  to 
keep  night  and  day,"  had  so  undermined  his  strength  that 
80 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

he  was  ordered  to  the  Chesapeake  Hospital  with  "a 
slow  intermittent  fever,  well-nigh  exhausted";  and  there 
he  found  himself  on  almost  the  precise  spot  where  his 
school  was  later  to  stand.  Meantime,  while  he  chafed 
in  convalescence,  his  men  were  severely  tested  by  a  futile 
charge  on  one  of  the  defences  of  Richmond,  and  were 
forced  to  retreat,  "cursing,"  as  Armstrong  writes  to  his 
brother,  "the  General  who  managed  them  so  badly, 
and  thanking  God  that  Colonel  Armstrong  was  not  there, 
for  if  he  had  been  there  they  would  all  have  been  in  Hell 
or  Richmond.  They  don't  expect  to  get  the  order  to 
retreat  from  me." 

During  this  invalidism  he  was  promoted  to  be  Colonel  of 
the  Eighth  Regiment  of  United  States  Colored  Troops,  *'  a 
fine  regiment,"  he  says,  "that  has  lost  over  three  hundred 
men  in  action  since  February  last."  He  joined  this  new 
command  in  November.  "I  can  sit  at  my  tent  door  and 
see  their  [the  enemy's]  long  line  of  earthworks  with  im- 
mensely strong  forts  thrown  in  every  quarter  of  a  mile; 
.  .  .  but  both  sides  seem  to  have  tacitly  agreed  not  to 
fire,  and  so  we  live  on,  perfectly  at  ease  and  always  ready. 
The  pickets  stand  watching  each  other,  some  300  yards 
apart — often  much  less."  Thus  the  conflict  dragged 
itself  through  its  last  winter,  with  its  trench  warfare 
anticipating  the  strategy  of  the  World  War  which  was 
later  to  come,  but  with  a  decency  and  almost  a  frater- 
nalism  of  procedure  which  makes  the  unmitigated  ruth- 
lessness  of  the  twentieth  century  appear  all  the  more 
barbarous.     What  was  then  described  as  a  "cruel  war" 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

seems  now  in  comparison  almost  merciful.     Both  sides 
habitually  fought  like  gentlemen. 

Spring  came,  and  Armstrong  wrote :  "I  do  not  see 
how  the  rebels  can  hold  out  much  longer";  and  on 
April  9  he  writes :  "  Dear  Mother,  God  is  great !  To- 
day by  His  help,  the  great  Confederate  General  and 
his  army  have  surrendered  unconditionally.  I  have 
just  been  viewing  from  an  eminence  the  captive 
host,  the  artillery  and  wagon  trains.  Yesterday  General 
Custer  took  all  the  supplies  sent  from  Lynchburg  to 
Lee's  army;  our  army  closed  in  around  the  rebels, 
and  this  morning  they  found  themselves  surrounded 
and  without  provisions.  Early  we  advanced  and  our 
skirmish  lines  met  those  of  the  enemy.  Mine  drove  not 
only  the  rebel  skirmishers,  but  also  their  line  of  battle; 
we  expected  a  fight ;  I  never  felt  more  like  it,  I  mounted 
my  noble  stallion  and  was  ready  to  lead  on  at  the  word — 
a  few  bullets  whistled  around,  a  few  shells  passed  over, 
the  rebs  gave  way — all  was  quiet,  there  was  a  rumor  of 
surrender — ^we  waited — other  rumors  came,  and  finally 
it  was  certain  that  the  cruel  war  was  over.  The  first 
inkling  I  had  of  it  was  the  continuous  cheering  of  troops 
on  our  right — soon  staff  officers  galloped  up  with  the 
news  that  Lee  was  making  terms  of  surrender — the 
firing  ceased ;  it  was  impossible  to  realize  that  the  terrible 
army  of  Lee  was  in  existence  no  longer;  the  truth  was 
stunning.  As  for  myself,  I  felt  a  sadness — a  feeling  that 
the  colored  troops  had  not  done  enough,  been  sufficiently 
proved.  We  just  missed  a  splendid  chance  of  taking 
82 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

a  rebel  battery  an  hour  before  Sheridan's  cavalry  came 
tumbling  back — the  rebs  were  driving  them,  and  we  were 
put  in  to  arrest  their  advance,  which  we  easily  did,  for 
they  no  sooner  saw  us  than  they  halted  and  retired  before 
our  skirmishers.  This  delay  cost  us  our  chance.  In  fact, 
we  lay  right  across  the  only  road  Lee  could  take  to  get 
away.  He  knew  Grant's  army  was,  the  day  before, 
35  miles  away,  and  supposed  he  could  escape  easily,  but 
our  forced  march  of  32  miles  that  day  threw  an  immense 
force  around  him  and  he  was  forced  to  capitulate.  Lee 
was  conquered  by  marching,  and  his  advancing  column 
was  headed  off  by  the  Fifth  Army  Corps,  and  by  black 
troops.  On  both  sides  there  were  prolonged  and  ringing 
cheers ;  especially  on  ours  ;  yet  I  heard  the  rebels  yelling, 
for  they  are  going  home.  The  rebel  bands  have  been 
playing  the  National  airs  of  both  sides.  I  think  both 
sides  will  meet  on  the  best  terms — all  are  tired  of  fighting 
— are  fought  out.  I  am  told  that  some  I5,(X)0  or  20,000 
rebels  have  thus  surrendered — we  shall  get  particulars 
hereafter.     I  tell  you  we  have  had  hard  work." 

By  the  strange  fortune  of  war,  on  April  24,  1865,  weeks 
after  hostilities  ceased,  Armstrong's  horse  fell  on  him, 
broke  the  bone  of  his  right  forearm,  and  so  disabled  him 
that  his  handwriting  was  for  the  rest  of  his  life  trans- 
formed into  a  large,  and  often  illegible,  script.  On 
about  the  same  date,  and  without  solicitation  on  his 
part,  he  was  appointed  a  Brevet-Brigadier-General  of 
Volunteers. 

His   army   life   did   not,   however,   immediately   end. 

83 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Disturbances  in  Mexico  appeared  to  demand  the  presence 
of  American  troops  on  the  frontier,  and  a  force  which  in- 
cluded the  Eighth  Colored  Regiment  was  despatched  by 
sea  to  Mobile,  and  thence  to  the  settlement  of  Brazos 
Santiago,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande.  "We 
expect,"  Armstrong  wrote,  "to  start  for  Texas  to-morrow 
morning — what  is  to  be  our  service  I  have  no  idea.'* 
Arriving  at  the  harborless  landing-place  he  found  his 
experience  as  an  Islander  serving  him  well.  "The  sea 
running  high,"  he  records,  "it  was  very  difficult  to  get 
ashore ;  however,  I  went  ashore,  selected  a  camp  ground, 
and  then  took  my  position  on  a  pile  of  lumber  to  watch 
my  regiment  come  ashore;  it  having  been  transferred 
to  a  large  schooner  in  order  to  get  over  the  bar,  which  is 
very  shallow  and  across  which  the  surf  breaks.  Indeed 
this  is  an  ugly  coast  and  is  strewn  with  wrecks ;  there  is 
a  sand  bar  and  a  line  of  breakers  for  hundreds  of  miles 
along  this  shore.  The  surf  was  running  high  ;  and  lying 
well  over,  under  a  stiff  breeze,  the  vessel  stood  in  for  the 
bar.  I  had  heard  it  stated  that  she  drew  too  much  water 
to  pass  the  bar,  and  knew  that  the  best  pilot  in  port  re- 
fused to  bring  her  in.  The  schooner  came  tearing  in, 
but  all  at  once  she  stopped,  her  sails  shivered,  and  there 
she  lay  among  the  breakers,  with  my  Reg't  on  board,  and 
darkness  just  coming  on.  I  never  in  my  life  was  more 
distressed — or  helpless.  Got  a  boat's  crew  to  pull  me 
out  towards  the  wreck,  but  it  was  impossible  to  reach  her 
— she  was  fairly  crowded  with  men,  and  I  expected  to 
lose  half  at  least  of  them.  She  drifted  and  thumped 
84 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

along,  however,  towards  the  remains  of  an  old  steamer, 
the  'Nassau,'  formerly  wrecked  in  Banks's  expedition, 
and  whose  engine  was  partly  out  of  water ;  the  greatest 
danger  was  that  the  schooner  would  drift  against  this 
wreck  and  break  to  pieces. 

"After  great  efforts  I  got  a  boat  and  crew  to  pull 
out  to  the  wreck — this  was  at  ii  o'clock  at  night; 
the  boatmen  were  Italian  sailors  from  the  Rio  Grande 
and  by  great  skill  got  me  over  the  breakers  to  the 
schooner,  which  had  then  drifted  close  to  the  steamer 
wreck  and  nearer  shore.  I  found  that  there  was  little 
probability  of  the  ship's  moving  before  morning,  and 
that  no  immediate  danger  was  apprehended  on  board 
as  the  vessel  was  new  and  staunch ;  so  I  passed  a  line 
ashore — this  was  on  Padre  Island — crossed  to  Brazos, 
procured  a  supply  of  boats  and  cordage  and  about  lOO 
men — then  went  to  the  point  nearest  the  wreck,  lay  down 
and  waited  for  daylight.  At  early  dawn,  we  fastened 
with  great  difficulty  a  large  hawser  from  the  ship  to  the 
shore  and  slipped  a  good-sized  boat  along  this,  backwards 
and  forwards  from  the  schooner  to  the  shore — filled 
with  men.  The  surf  was  high,  but  owing  to  the  skill  of 
my  Italians,  she  did  not  swamp.  The  vessel  was  about 
250  yards  from  shore. 

"  As  we  were  slowly  getting  the  men  off,  I  found  a  fine 
metallic  life-boat  which  had  drifted  ashore,  perfectly 
sound.  I  manned  it  with  my  own  officers  and  men, 
took  the  steering  oar  myself,  and  put  out  to  the  schooner 
and  helped  unload  her;  it  was  most  exciting  and  difficult, 

85 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

as  my  right  arm  is  nearly  useless  for  hard  work.  The 
rollers  would  come  in  and  pick  up  my  boat  and  carry 
it  like  a  shot  for  a  few  rods,  and  as  it  was  so  short  and 
light,  it  was  difficult  to  keep  it  in  the  right  position.  I 
wonder  I  did  not  break  my  arm  or  get  stunned  or  swamped, 
for  the  oar  would  sometimes  be  snapped  out  of  my  hand 
and  the  boat  would  slew  round,  and  I  could  barely  fix 
her  for  the  next  wave.  The  surf  kept  increasing  and  my 
little  boat  would  sometimes  stand  up  almost,  or  be  lost 
in  spray,  but  nothing  serious  happened  till  the  schooner 
broke  away  and  drifted  up  so  close  that  the  men  jumped 
off.  The  discipline  of  the  men  never  broke,  but  every 
man  stood  at  his  post  till  called  for ;  those  on  shore  were 
organized  into  parties  for  seizing  the  boats  as  the  waves 
swept  them  in,  generally  half  full  of  water — helped  the 
men  out,  bailed  out  the  boats  and  started  us  off  again 
for  the  ship;  others  were  boiling  coffee  for  the  wet  and 
drenched  troops — the  Chaplain  dealt  out  whiskey.  All 
those  working  were  stripped  to  the  waist  and  barefoot — 
officers  and  men  pulled  oars  side  by  side —  it  was  exciting. 
At  last,  after  I  had  got  about  400  men  off  in  boats,  the 
schooner  drifted  close  in  and  the  troops  jumped  off, 
throwing  their  knapsacks  overboard  and  jumping  after 
them.  I  only  lost  about  ten  guns  and  twenty  knapsacks 
all  told,  and  no  lives." 

They  had  landed  on  "a  long,  low,  island — entirely 
destitute  of  verdure — no  trees,  nor  grass,  nor  rocks, 
nor  any  living  thing.  .  .  .  There  is  no  wood  to  be 
had — no  water  in  the  region.  .  .  .  Some  of  my  Reg't 
86 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

walked  to  the  Rio  Grande,  nine  miles  off,  loaded  with 
canteens  and  dragging  a  barrel  for  water."  Ill-con- 
sidered and  hasty  plans  for  camping  on  the  Mexican 
border  were,  it  would  appear,  not  reserved  for  a  later 
generation  to  undertake.  In  spite  of  the  lessons  which  it 
would  seem  the  conduct  of  the  Civil  War  might  have 
taught,  Armstrong's  expedition  had  been  shipped  to  the 
extreme  South  late  in  June,  to  a  port  where  disembarka- 
tion was  at  the  risk  of  life,  where  supplies  were  inacces- 
sible, and  strategic  action  out  of  the  question.  "When 
the  Lord  pronounced  Creation  'very  good,'"  wrote  Arm- 
strong, "this  place  must  have  been  under  a  cloud  where 
it  could  not  be  seen.  .  .  .  We  are  encamped  on  the 
bottom  of  the  sea — a  low,  flat,  sandy  plain  which,  when 
the  tide  is  flood  and  the  northers  blow,  is  covered  with 
water  four  feet  deep,  where  sharks  make  their  hunting 
ground." 

Finally,  in  August,  the  force  was  transferred  to 
Ringgold  Barracks,  i8o  miles  up  the  Rio  Grande,  "a 
dull  place,  but  very  healthy,"  opposite  the  Mexican  vil- 
lage of  Camargo,  and  there  he  remained  on  terms  of 
friendly  intimacy  with  the  Mexican  officers  across  the 
river  until,  in  October  1865,  he  and  his  men  were  sent 
North  and  discharged.  It  was  a  trying  anti-climax  for 
Armstrong's  experience  of  soldiering.  The  intense  ani- 
mation of  trench-fighting,  and  the  thrilling  scenes  of 
Appomattox,  had  been  succeeded  by  the  dreariness  of  a 
torrid,  sandy  shore,  and  the  inactivity  of  barrack  life ; 
and  the  vigorous  young  man  of  twenty-six  longed  to  be 

87 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

free.  Yet  he  was  able  to  recall  these  days  in  Texas  as  on 
the  whole  singularly  "varied  .  .  .  and  valuable."  **I  will 
tell  you,"  he  writes  to  his  mother,  "something  which  may 
please  you.  .  .  .  The  Board  appointed  for  the  Twenty- 
Fifth  Army  Corps  placed  me  first  on  the  list  of  Colonels 
and  Regimental  officers  in  the  Corps  —  a  most  extraordi- 
nary and  unexpected  honor.  .  .  I  go  out  of  the  service 
one  of  the  most  fortunate  of  those  who  entered  it." 

One  reminiscence,  however,  often  recalled  by  him  later, 
gave  to  this  fruitless  prolongation  of  army  service  a  per- 
manent place  in  Armstrong's  spiritual  history.  On  the 
voyage  to  Mobile,  surrounded  by  his  black  soldiers, 
"the  western  sky  draped  in  the  most  gorgeous  cloud 
tapestry — the  ship  gliding  swiftly  through  a  glassy  sea 
— a  brass  band  discoursed  rich  music,  and  it  was  a  scene 
of  life  and  pleasure  on  board.  The  nights  were  warm 
and  many  of  us  slept  on  deck,  subject,  however,  to  the 
inconvenience  of  being  roused  very  early  when  the  ship 
was  washed  down."  It  was  here,  while  borne  "between 
the  twin  glories  of  sky  and  Gulf,  through  the  splendor 
of  sunset  and  the  grandeur  of  the  southern  night,  his 
thoughts  now  wandering  to  his  Island  home,  now  called 
back  to  his  black  troops  on  the  deck  below,  now  roving 
through  the  excitements  and  successes  of  the  heroic  past 
and  now  turning  towards  the  uncertain  future,"  *  that 
his  thoughts  recurred  to  the  home  of  his  boyhood  and 
to  the  Manual  Labor  School  at  Hilo  (The  New  Moon), 
the  point  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii  at  which  visitors  dis- 

*  Ludlow  Mss.,  p.  441. 
88 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

embark  to  visit  the  astonishing  spectacle  of  the  volcano 
Kilauea.  The  school  is  still  in  operation,  training  boys 
of  a  dark-skinned  race,  who  are  temperamentally  dis- 
inclined to  industry  and  unskilled  in  manual  dexterity, 
in  the  elements  of  those  mechanic  arts  through  which 
alone  they  can  adjust  themselves  to  a  modern  world. 

Dreaming  thus  of  his  past,  there  came  to  Armstrong 
his  new  vision — ^the  thought  of  a  similar  school  which 
might  be  adapted  to  the  needs  of  another  race,  with  some- 
thing of  the  same  defects  of  disposition  and  confronted  by 
the  same  demands  of  modern  life.  The  whole  plan  of 
such  an  enterprise  lifted  itself  before  him  as  if  in  the 
clouds  of  sunset,  and  the  throng  of  Negro  soldiers  lying 
on  the  deck  beneath  seemed  to  rise  and  meet  their  new 
redemption.  It  was  one  of  those  creative  moments 
which  have  often  determined  destiny,  like  the  cross  in 
the  sky  which  was  a  sign  to  Constantine ;  like  the  voice, 
"  Rise,  and  go  into  Damascus,"  which  changed  the  history 
of  the  world  through  the  Apostle  Paul.  "Your  young 
men,"  said  the  Prophet  Joel,  "shall  see  visions,"  not  that 
their  sanity  may  be  disturbed,  or  that  visions  shall  sup- 
plant sagacious  and  prudent  plans,  but  that  the  door  of 
the  future  may  be  opened  and  the  dream  of  life  given  color 
and  form.  Armstrong  was  not  a  mystic  enthusiast, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  singularly  unclouded  in  judgment; 
a  soldier,  accustomed  to  disciplinary  and  administrative 
tasks;  yet  in  this  quiet  moment  of  exaltation  his  future 
stood  before  him  in  completeness,  and  the  fulfilment  of  his 
hope  was  but  an  act  of  obedience  to  this  heavenly  vision. 

89 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Here,  then,  the  story  of  Armstrong's  life  meets  the 
story  which  has  been  briefly  traced,  of  the  Negro  after 
the  war.  The  young  Brevet-Brigadier-General  of  Colored 
Troops  found  himself,  like  so  many  discharged  officers, 
set  adrift  in  a  world  which  seemed  to  have  no  place  for 
him.  For  three  years  he  had  been  a  master  of  men,  say- 
ing— like  the  Roman  captain  in  the  Gospel — to  one  man  : 
Go,  and  to  another :  Come,  and  to  his  servant :  Do  this. 
Now  he  was  suddenly  reduced,  not  only  to  the  ranks  of 
industry,  but  to  the  ranks  of  the  unemployed.  He  had 
no  experience  or  influence  which  could  secure  him  a  foot- 
hold in  business  life.  The  tradition  in  which  he  had  been 
trained  directed  his  mind  to  the  ministry,  but  his  soldier- 
ing had  confirmed  a  temperamental  inclination  to  tasks 
of  organization  and  practical  leadership.  "Action,  and 
not  preaching,"  he  writes  to  his  mother,  "is  plainly  my 
sphere,  though  a  little  talking  is  occasionally  allowable." 

In  his  later  life  he  was  called  to  speak  much  about  reli- 
gion, but  he  was  never  a  preacher  of  finished  sermons. 
His  talk  was  like  the  action  of  a  rapid-fire  gun — a  series 
of  quick  and  penetrating  aphorisms,  each  one  of  which 
might  carry  a  message  of  life  or  death.  It  was  evident 
that  he  must  administer  or  originate  plans  of  action,  and 
apply  his  military  instincts  to  works  of  peace.  It  seemed 
to  him  not  unnatural  that  the  National  Government 
which  he  had  served  as  a  soldier  might  use  him  as  a  public 
servant,  and  he  went  to  Washington  intending  to  apply 
for  a  position.  But  the  spectacle  of  office-seekers  waiting 
to  press  their  claims  was  so  repulsive  to  him  that  he  with- 
90 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

drew.  Finally  it  occurred  to  him  that  the  newly  estab- 
lished Freedmen's  Bureau  might  open  the  way  to  that 
service  of  the  Negro  of  which  he  had  dreamed,  and  he 
presented  himself  to  General  Howard,  who  said  of  the 
interview:  "Though  already  a  general.  General  Arm- 
strong seemed  to  me  very  young.  His  quick  motions  and 
nervous  energy  were  apparent  then.  He  spoke  rapidly 
and  wanted  matters  decided,  if  possible,  on  the  spot."  * 
At  the  moment  no  place  as  agent  was  vacant,  but  a  few 
days  later  the  fifth  sub-district  of  Virginia,  covering  ten 
counties,  with  headquarters  at  Hampton,  was  offered  to 
him,  and  he  became  responsible  for  10,000  Negroes,  whose 
influx  had  made  that  region  a  vast  camp  of  dependent 
"contrabands."  "Colored  squatters,"  he  says,  "by 
thousands  come  into  my  district,"  f  and  into  the  un- 
organized and  bewildering  task  confronting  him  Arm- 
strong threw  himself  as  into  a  new  war.  "My  post," 
he  writes  in  March  1866,  "is  the  hardest  in  the  State.  .  .  . 
Howard  told  me  it  was  the  most  delicate  point  in  his 
Bureau  and  himself  assigned  me  to  it.  .  .  .  There  are 
7000  Negroes  in  a  radius  of  three  miles  from  my  office, 
and  some  35,000  in  my  district.  .  .  .  We  issue  18,000 
rations  a  day  to  those  who  would  die  of  starvation  if  it 
were  not  for  this."  He  promptly  appealed  to  the 
philanthropic  women  of  the  North  to  receive  into  their 
households  some  of  these  dependents  who  might  be  qual- 
ified for  domestic  service,  and  was  able  to  report  to  the 
Commissioner   that   nearly   one   thousand    refugees   had 

*  Talbot,  op.  cit.y  p.  136.  f  Ludlow  Mss.,  p.  523. 

91 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

been  placed  with  families  in  Massachusetts.  He  pro- 
moted the  work  of  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
which  had  already  entered  on  this  field  of  service,  and  co- 
operated with  missionaries  and  teachers  of  other  North- 
ern Boards. 

Yet  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  methods  of  the 
Freedmen's  Bureau  were  essentially  temporary,  a  relief  of 
that  immediate  suffering  which  was  the  legacy  of  the  war, 
rather  than  an  establishing  of  the  Negro  race  in  self- 
respect  and  self-support.  More  and  rnore  his  thoughts 
turned  to  education  as  the  path  to  racial  progress,  and  one 
day,  as  he  rode  through  "Wood  Farm,"  the  spot  where 
Hampton  Institute  later  stood,  looking,  as  he  says,  "at 
the  swarming  camps  of  the  contrabands,"  he  recalled  his 
vision  of  the  way  out  of  helplessness  for  these  dependent 
lives,  and  felt  the  added  conviction  that  he  was  looking  on 
the  very  spot  where  that  way  must  be  opened  toward 
self-help  and  racial  hope.  In  his  Report  to  the  Bureau 
in  June  1866,  this  conviction  found  expression.  "The 
education  of  the  Freedmen,"  he  writes,  "is  the  great  work 
of  the  day.  It  is  their  only  hope,  the  only  power  that 
can  lift  them  as  a  people.  .  .  .  The  South  will  do  noth- 
ing for  the  education  of  the  Negroes,  the  North  cannot 
very  long  conduct  it ;  they  must  do  it  for  themselves. 
From  such  a  self-rehant,  self-supporting  course  the  hap- 
piest results  might  be  anticipated." 

Thus,  although  he  gave  himself  for  two  years  with 
loyal  enthusiasm  to  the  task  of  alleviating  temporary 
conditions,  he  recognized  it  as  paUiative  only;  and 
92 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

though  he  wrote  with  entire  sincerity:  "I  beheve  the 
continuance  of  the  Bureau  desirable,"  he  foresaw  that 
it  was  Httle  more  than  a  war-measure  and  must  soon 
be  discontinued.  In  July  1867  he  made  a  formal  appli- 
cation to  the  American  Missionary  Association,  the 
strongest  organization  sustaining  teachers  in  the  district, 
that  this  society  should  establish  a  school  on  the  Wood 
Farm,  with  the  anticipation  that  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  might  erect  its  buildings.  The  Secretary  of  the 
society.  Dr.  Whipple,  inspected  and  approved  the  site, 
on  which  already  stood  a  Mansion  and  a  "millhouse." 
General  Howard  appropriated  ^2000  from  his  Construc- 
tion Fund.  It  did  not  apparently  occur  to  Armstrong 
that  he  was  likely  to  be  appointed  Principal  of  the  school. 
"My  future,"  he  writes  in  the  same  letter  which  describes 
the  proposed  school,  "is  uncertain.  .  .  .  Do  not  give 
out  that  I  will  run  for  Congress,  for  the  chance  is  very 
slim.  E.  B.  Parsons,  '59  or  '60  at  Williams,  has  been 
secured  by  the  American  Missionary  Association  to  run 
the  machine  [the  school]."  Finally,  on  October  10,  1867, 
he  writes  to  his  friend  Archibald  Hopkins,  "I  have  been 
asked  to  run  the  Normal  School  here,  and  have  consented 
to  take  it  in  addition  to  present  duty,  if  that  will  suit. 
I  will  do  nothing  else.     Parsons  backed  out." 

Such  was  the  coming  of  Armstrong  to  Hampton. 
Across  the  great  spaces  of  ocean  and  continent,  and  the 
still  greater  changes  of  conviction  and  desire,  he  had  been 
led  to  a  mission  which,  even  when  it  confronted  him, 
seemed  a  by-product  of  his  activity,  and  to  be  accepted 

93 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

"in  addition  to  present  duty."  From  a  boy's  allegiance 
to  his  native  land  to  a  man's  allegiance  to  his  adopted 
country ;  from  indifference  toward  the  Negro  race  to  the 
giving  of  his  life  for  their  sakes;  from  the  exhilaration 
of  the  Berkshire  Hills  to  the  sandy  shore  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico ;  from  the  discipline  of  the  trenches  to  the  still 
sterner  discipline  of  an  undetermined  career, — his  vigor- 
ous, unstained,  and  responsive  nature  had  been  driven 
by  influences  which  seemed  fortuitous  and  even  unwel- 
come, but  which  were  all  the  time  guiding  him  to  a  single 
end.  It  was  like  that  miracle  of  nature,  the  migration  of 
the  birds,  which  bears  the  frail  creatures  of  the  sky  from 
their  winter  refuge  in  the  bayous  of  Florida  to  the  glades 
of  New  England,  where  Nature  waits  for  their  arrival  to 
be  assured  that  summer  is  near.  So  the  migratory 
spirit  of  Armstrong,  following  an  instinct  which  was  more 
infallible  than  any  scheme  of  life  could  be,  brought  him 
at  last  to  the  spot  where  the  summer  of  his  career  was 
soon  to  bloom. 


94 


CHAPTER  FOUR 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  HAMPTON  (1868-1872) 

THE  "Negro  College,"  thus  undertaken  by  the  American 
Missionary  Association  and  accepted  by  General  Arm- 
strong as  a  temporary  charge,  did  not  at  first  appear  to 
compel  his  retirement  from  the  Freedmen's  Bureau, 
but  the  very  energy  with  which  he  applied  himself  to 
the  new  undertaking  soon  involved  consequences  from 
which  he  could  not  escape.  In  1867  the  Association 
proposed  to  buy  40  acres  near  the  town  of  Hampton, 
including  a  building  occupied  before  the  war  by  the  Ches- 
apeake Female  Seminary,  on  land  where  now  stands 
the  National  Soldiers'  Home.  Armstrong  opposed  this 
purchase,  arguing  that  the  Seminary  building  had  been 
utilized  as  a  military  hospital  and  might  be  a  source  of 
contagion.  A  Committee  of  Inquiry,  including  in  its 
membership  the  distinguished  names  of  President  Hopkins 
and  General  Garfield,  made  a  journey  to  the  spot  to  dis- 
cuss the  question.  The  Committee  leaned  to  the  plan  of 
using  the  existing  building,  and  said  :  "That  is  the  thing 
to  do,  to  buy  the  Seminary  building"  ;  but  as  Dr.  Strieby, 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Association,  has  recorded : 
"At  last  President  Hopkins  took  me  aside,  and  said  :  'We 
had  better  let  this  young  man  have  his  way,'  and  we  did." 

95 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Further  aid  soon  began  to  flow  in  from  unexpected 
sources.  A  visitor  from  Pittsburg,  Hon.  Josiah  King, 
who  was  executor  of  an  estate  bequeathed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  colored  race,  was  taken  in  hand  by  Arm- 
strong, shown  the  lay  of  the  land  from  the  top  of  a 
neighboring  building,  and  surrendered  to  the  magnetism 
of  the  young  enthusiast,  contributing  $10,000  toward 
the  purchase  of  the  "Wood  Farm,"  of  160  acres,  on 
which  stood  a  mansion  [still  the  Principal's  House],  a 
flour-mill  [later  converted  into  Griggs  Hall],.'  and 
about  forty  hospital-barracks  which  provided  build- 
ing material.  The  American  Missionary  Association 
added  the  necessary  balance  of  $9000  to  complete  this 
purchase,  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  appropriated  a  further 
grant  of  $13,000  for  buildings,  and  a  Northern  woman, 
Mrs.  Stephen  Griggs  of  New  York,  who  had  never  visited 
the  school,  was  moved  to  make,  through  the  American 
Missionary  Association,  a  subscription  of  $10,000  as  a 
memorial  of  her  husband.  The  financial  foundation  of 
the  scheme  had  thus  become  more  firmly  established  than 
even  Armstrong  had  imagined  practicable,  and  it  soon 
became  evident  that  he  must  devote  his  entire  energy 
to  the  superintendence  of  the  school.  "However  it 
[the  Freedmen's  Bureau]  goes,"  he  writes  in  June  1868, 
"I  am  too  firmly  anchored  here  to  be  moved  or  greatly 
disappointed  by  its  failure.  The  chances  are  that  my 
life-work  is  here,  and  I  shall  not  regret  it."  * 

Even  a  call  received  at  this  time  to  the  presidency  of 

*  Talbot,  op.  cit.,  p.  169. 
96 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Howard  University  did  not  divert  him  from  the  more  dif- 
ficult and  unrequited  service  of  the  school  as  yet  only  on 
paper  at  Hampton.  *'  I  was  desired,"  he  writes  in  January 
1868,  "and  very  urgently  and  persistently  asked  to  take 
hold  of  this  institution  [Howard  University].  T  met 
the  trustees  twice,  looked  over  the  whole  ground  care- 
fully, and  refused,  for  two  reasons.  First,  I  was  in 
honor  bound  to  the  American  Missionary  Association. 
Secondly,  I  considered  that  my  own  enterprise  was  the 
sounder  thing.  It  had  better  possibilities,  was  more 
central  with  reference  to  freedmen,  and  had  important 
advantages.  Howard  is  one  of  the  noblest,  bravest, 
kindest,  gentlest  of  men,  a  true  Christian,  wholly  unself- 
ish. He  has  used  me  remarkably  well.  .  .  .  After  re- 
fusing General  Howard's  offer,  I  took  care  to  urge  my  own 
scheme.  .  .  .  We  are  ahead  and  alone.  The  ground  is 
new.  The  enterprise  is  as  full  of  bad  possibilities  as  of 
good  ones ;  most  embarrassing  conditions  will  occur 
from  time  to  time;  all  is  experiment,  but  all  is  hopeful." 
Meantime,  in  the  midst  of  these  arduous  and  engross- 
ing plans,  Armstrong's  ardent  and  susceptible  nature 
found  its  satisfaction  in  love,  and  he  wrote  to  his  sister 
in  January  1868  :  "I  met  a  charming  young  woman  there 
[in  Stockbridge,  Mass.],  and  you  will  hear  more  later"; 
and  again  to  his  mother :  "I  am  in  love,  of  a  truth ;  have 
seemed  to  meet  as  sweet  a  fate  as  ever  befell  a  man. 
The  difficulties  of  distance  are  great.  She  lives  in  a 
lovely  village  not  far  from  Great  Barrington.  There  is 
no  engagement — there  may   never   be — whether   I   win 

97 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

or  lose  remains  to  be  seen.  This  is  a  family  secret,  of 
course,"  "When  I  look  at  her,"  he  writes  to  his  friend 
Hopkins,  "I  say,  'Angel';  when  I  look  at  myself,  I  say, 
*Ass'!" 

Armstrong  was,  however,  not  in  the  habit  of  losing, 
and  soon  won  the  heart  of  his  "sweet  fate,"  Miss 
Emma  Dean  Walker  of  Stockbridge,  Mass,  He  wrote 
to  his  mother  in  August  1868  of  their  engagement;  and 
the  pair  were  married  at  Stockbridge  in  October  1869. 
Armstrong  at  once  brought  his  young  bride  to  the  old 
Mansion  House  on  the  Wood  Farm,  where  a  devoted 
union  of  nine  short  years,  blessed  with  two  children,  but 
saddened  by  Mrs.  Armstrong's  failing  health,  began. 
"When  the  young  Principal,"  records  Miss  Ludlow, 
"brought  his  young  bride  to  share  his  interests  and 
lighten  his  burdens,  the  only  way  in  which  rooms  could 
be  provided  for  the  newly  married  pair  was  by  boarding- 
in  one  of  the  broad  piazzas,  which  gave  two  small  rooms 
on  each  story,  rooms  always  occupied  thereafter  by  the 
General  and  his  family."  Their  few  years  of  married 
life  were  broken  by  absences  of  the  husband  on  his  jour- 
neys to  the  North  and  South  and  West ;  but  his  intimate 
letters  reveal  the  tenderest  relationship  of  mutual  affec- 
tion. He  unveils  his  own  moods  of  self-distrust  and 
leans  on  his  frail  wife  for  strength.  "My  cup  has  been 
richly  filled,"  he  writes;  "the  only  bitterness  has  been 
added  by  my  own  wilful  folly.  You  have  come  to  me 
with  such  sacred  sweetness  and  happiness  as  the  world 
has  not  much  of.  .  .  .  You  are  a  daily  strength  and  com- 
98 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

fort,  and  I  depend  more  and  more  upon  you.  .  .  .  There 
are  large  blessings  given  to  us  and  a  power  given  to  you 
to  create  peace  and  comfort  and  rest  and  make  people 
happy  that  few  possess."  So  the  strong  man  finds 
himself  sustained  by  the  spiritual  tranquillity  of  his  in- 
vaHd  wife,  as  though  she  said:  "My  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thee,"  and  he  answered:  "My  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness." 

What,  then,  were  the  immediate  problems  which  con- 
fronted Armstrong  in  this  bold  venture  of  a  "  Negro 
College  "  ?  The  first  was  to  frame  a  definite  conception 
of  the  plan  and  purpose  of  the  school,  and  this  from  the 
beginning  lay  with  distinctness  before  Armstrong's 
mind.  "The  thing  to  be  done  was  clear,"  he  said:  "to 
train  selected  Negro  youths  who  should  go  out  and  teach 
and  lead  their  people,  first  by  example,  by  getting  land 
and  homes ;  to  give  them  not  a  dollar  that  they  could 
earn  for  themselves;  to  teach  respect  for  labor,  to  re- 
place stupid  drudgery  with  skilled  hands,  and  in  this  way 
to  build  up  an  industrial  system  for  the  sake,  not  only 
of  self-support  and  intelligent  labor,  but  also  for  the 
sake  of  character."  With  this  declared  intention  the 
school  was  opened  on  April  i,  1868,  converting  the  hos- 
pital barracks  into  temporary  dormitories,  employing 
one  teacher  and  one  matron,  and  enrolling  fifteen  stu- 
dents. 

In  June  1870  it  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of 
Virginia  with  the  title,  which  seemed  at  the  time  am- 
bitious,   of    "The    Hampton   Normal    and    Agricultural 

99 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Institute,  for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  various 
common-school,  academic  and  collegiate  branches,  the 
best  methods  of  teaching  the  same,  and  the  best  mode 
of  practical  industry  in  its  application  to  agriculture  and 
the  mechanic  arts ;  and  for  the  carrying  out  of  these 
purposes,  the  said  Trustees  may  establish  any  depart- 
ments or  schools  in  the  said  institution."  The  original 
staff  of  teachers  was  in  the  main  recruited  from  the 
missionaries  of  the  American  Missionary  Association,  who 
served  for  the  modest  stipend  of  $15  a  month.  It  was 
not  until  June  1870  that  this  Association  surrendered  its 
executive  control,  and  an  independent  Board  of  Trus- 
tees was  created,  without  sectarian  limitation  or  other 
condition  than  that  "the  teaching  should  be  forever  evan- 
gelical." The  good-will  of  the  Association  was,  however, 
perpetuated  by  membership  of  some  of  its  officers  in  the 
first  Board  of  Trustees,  a  relationship  of  confidence  and 
intimacy  which  has  continued  for  nearly  a  half-century. 

The  second  problem  confronting  the  enterprise  was 
to  find  competent  colleagues  for  the  administration  and 
instruction  of  the  school.  The  devoted  missionaries 
who  were  the  first  allies,  while  cordially  undertaking 
their  new  responsibilities,  could  not  be  regarded  as  pri- 
marily or  permanently  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
school;  and  its  welfare  could  not  be  insured  without 
discovering  assistants  who  felt  themselves  specifically 
called  to  the  new  undertaking.  From  very  varied  sources, 
and  from  the  most  unexpected  quarters,  Armstrong's 
irrepressible  enthusiasm  summoned  these  lieutenants 
100 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

to  his  new  campaign ;  and  the  names  of  those  early  pio- 
neers who  ventured  with  him  into  the  first  years  of  the 
school  are  enshrined  among  the  precious  memories  of 
Hampton. 

Early  in  1870  the  correspondence  of  the  school  began 
to  bear  the  following  letter-head,  which  indicates  that 
an  organic  existence  had  already  begun,  and  a  skeleton 
regiment  of  workers  was  already  enrolled. 

HAMPTON   NORMAL  and  AGRICULTURAL   IN- 
STITUTE 

Incorporated  by  Special  Act  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  Virginia.     Opened  April  1868 

S.  C.  Armstrong,  Principal  Miss  R.  T.  Bacon,  Asst. 

Principal 

Albert  Howe,  Farm  Manager      Miss  Jane  Stuart  Wool- 

sey,  Manag.,  Girls'  In- 
dustrial Dept. 

It  was  a  singular  collocation  of  names  which  thus  an- 
nounced to  the  public  the  character  of  the  new  school — 
a  General  fresh  from  the  battle-fields  of  Virginia;  a 
sturdy  New  England  farmer,  tireless,  versatile,  and 
upright;  and  two  young  women  from  among  the  elect 
of  New  Haven  and  New  York. 

Albert  Howe  was  a  rugged,  unassuming  Yankee,  who 
had  enlisted  in  1861  in  the  Northern  army,  had  fought 
in  many  battles  and  been  taken  prisoner  at  Fort  Donel- 
son,  and  finally,  in  broken  health,  had  entered  the  service 

lOI 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  at  Fortress  Monroe.  At  the 
end  of  the  war  he  began  "keeping  store"  at  Hampton. 
On  Armstrong's  arrival  he  entered  Howe's  store  and  asked 
him  where  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  was  to  be  found.  "I 
sold  him  a  Scotch  cap,"  recalls  the  storekeeper,  "before  he 
had  been  there  two  minutes."  Then  began  a  lifelong 
intimacy  of  mutual  affection.  Armstrong  boarded  for  a 
time  with  Howe  and  his  wife,  sleeping  in  a  room  of  the 
hospital  ward  near  by.  "One  evening,"  reports  Howe 
in  his  Reminiscences,  "the  General  came  over  while  I 
was  at  supper,  and  said,  *Howe,  I  have  come  after  you; 
the  American  Missionary  Association  sent  down  two 
carpenters  to  put  up  some  cheap  wooden  buildings,  but 
they  tore  down  three  of  the  long  wards  and  the  lumber 
was  hauled  and  scattered  all  over  the  lawn.  Then  they 
got  disgusted  with  the  country  and  left.'  I  told  him  I 
had  just  bought  an  interest  in  the  store  and  could  not 
go.  Finally  I  promised  to  go  till  he  could  get  someone 
else.  But  he  never  did,  and  I  am  here  yet."  Mr.  Howe 
became  farm-manager  and  superintendent  of  buildings, 
bringing  to  that  service  the  most  complete  devotion,  both 
to  the  plans  and  to  the  person  of  his  Chief.  After  fifty 
years  of  uninterrupted  and  unselfish  labor,  of  serious 
responsibilities  and  domestic  trials,  this  precious  link 
with  the  beginnings  of  Hampton  still  remains  unbroken, 
and  Mr.  Howe  continues  to  be  to  all  who  love  or  serve 
the  school  a  wise  counsellor  and  a  delightful  friend. 

Rebecca  Bacon  was  the  daughter  of  the  distinguished 
theologian.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  of  New  Haven,  and  for 

I02 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

two  years  (1869-1871),  served  the  school  as  a  volunteer, 
with  the  title  of  Assistant  Principal.  Of  her  Miss  Wool- 
sey,  one  of  her  colleagues,  interpreting  one  New  England 
character  through  another,  wrote  in  1869:  "General 
Armstrong  is  very  busy  with  outside  matters,  and  goes 
to  the  North  for  various  purposes,  among  others  to  raise 
money  for  the  school.  Miss  Bacon  has  entire  charge. 
She  has  newly  created  the  whole  place,  submitting  her 
plans  to  General  Armstrong  after  they  are  matured. 
Her  processes  of  thinking  are  very  deliberate,  but  she 
thinks  clearly  and  acts  decisively  when  she  reaches  her 
conclusion.  She  is  thoroughly  capable  and  has  a  great 
deal  to  test  her  capacity.  The  whole  routine  of  the 
school — the  course  of  instruction  and  division  into  classes, 
assigning  the  teachers  to  classes,  the  direction  of  the 
Butler  and  Lincoln  Schools,  which  are  the  practice  schools 
for  the  normal  scholars,  the  Sunday-schools  and  the 
weekly  religious  instruction — all  this  has  been  her  work- 
ing sphere,  and  it  is  well  done."  One  cannot  but  reflect 
how  much  satisfaction  such  an  estimate  of  his  daughter's 
efficiency  might  have  given  to  Miss  Bacon's  "very  de- 
liberate," but  "clear  thinking"  and  "decisively  acting" 
father. 

Jane  Stuart  Woolsey  is  first  spoken  of  in  Armstrong's 
letters  as  one  of  the  "splendid  Woolsey  family  of  New 
York,  who  have  been  so  kind  to  me."*  In  1869  she 
enlisted  without  compensation  as  a  teacher  at  Hamp- 
ton and  became  for  four  years  (i  869-1 872)  Director  of 

*  Talbot,  op.  cit.,  p.  163. 

103 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

the  girls'  industries.  Writing  of  her  in  1869,  General 
Armstrong  says:  "Miss  Woolsey  has  been  invaluable; 
she  is  wise  and  true,  a  strong  and  faithful  friend ;  a  kind 
Providence  brought  her  to  Hampton.  She  has  helped 
in  many  ways,  and  the  work  is  the  better  for  her  presence." 

To  this  original  staff  there  were  soon  added  further 
allies  from  among  whose  names  a  few  must  be  specifically 
recorded  as  among  the  creators  of  Hampton  Institute. 
The  most  notable  recruit  was  General  James  F.  B.  Mar- 
shall, who  had  been  during  Armstrong's  boyhood  a  resi- 
dent of  Hawaii  and  an  intimate  friend  of  the  Armstrong 
family.  In  his  personal  reminiscences  he  speaks  of 
** young  Samuel"  as  a  "restless  member  of  my  Sunday- 
school  class  of  eight-year-old  boys  in  the  only  English 
church  in  Honolulu."  Since  returning  to  the  United 
States  he  had  been  Quartermaster-General  of  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  and  an  agent  of  the  Sanitary  Commis- 
sion. In  1869  he  undertook  as  Treasurer  the  financial 
administration  of  the  school,  and  for  fourteen  years 
General  and  Mrs.  Marshall,  a  benignant  and  efficient 
pair,  devoted  their  lives  to  Hampton.  Their  home  "was 
a  centre  of  sweetness  and  light,"  and  his  "rare  business 
skill  and  administrative  ability,  his  sound  judgment, 
and  his  great  heart  made  him  an  invaluable  counsellor 
and  friend  to  the  Principal."  * 

One  function,  which  it  was  hoped  by  the  Trustees  of 
the  school  that  General  Marshall  would  discharge,  was 
defined  by  Mr.  Howe  as   "holding    General  Armstrong 

*  Ludlow  Mss.,  p.  647. 
IQ4 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

back";  or,  in  General  Marshall's  own  language,  as  **a 
kind  of  tail  to  Armstrong's  kite,  to  keep  it  from  flying 
away  altogether."  "They  were  afraid  of  the  General," 
said  Mr.  Howe,  "because  he  spent  so  much  money.  But 
as  well  try  to  stop  a  whirlwind  !  As  soon  as  one  building 
was  done,  his  fertile  brain  was  planning  another."  Re- 
signing his  post  in  1884  General  Marshall  remained  at 
the  North  an  eflFective  advocate  of  the  school,  until  in 
1 89 1  he  and  his  devoted  wife  died  within  a  single  week.  Of 
him  Armstrong  said  in  his  Report  of  that  year:  "He 
organized  our  system  of  accounts,  trained  students  to  be 
efficient  clerks,  and  the  good  condition  of  our  business 
affairs  is  largely  due  to  him.  But  his  influence  and 
value  extended  far  beyond  his  office  duties.  He  gave 
tone  to  the  entire  work,  and  impressed  his  noble,  kindly 
character  on  hundreds  of  students,  who  will  always  look 
on  him  as  a  father  and  true  friend.  .  .  .  He  will  be 
remembered  and  mourned  by  many  in  this  and  other 
lands." 

To  this  important  accession  were  soon  added  other 
valuable  allies.  Two  sisters,  Mary  and  Charlotte 
Mackie,  who  had  been  reared  in  circumstances  of  refine- 
ment and  ease,  gave  themselves  to  every  form  of  service, 
from  the  duties  of  teaching  to  the  more  prosaic  tasks  of 
household-management.  The  first  succeeded  Miss  Bacon 
as  Assistant-Principal  in  1871,  and  continued  in  that 
office  until  1891.  The  second  was  steward  and  house- 
keeper of  the  Teachers'  Home  from  1870  to  1886.  Of 
Charlotte  Mackie,  Armstrong  said  on  her  retirement : 

105 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE    . 

**Her  many  years  of  efficient  care  have  been  a  noble 
contribution  to  the  colored  race"  ;  and  of  her  sister  Mary, 
"She  is  a  part  of  all  that  the  Hampton  School  has  been 
or  is,  and  will  always  be  held  in  long  and  grateful  re- 
membrance." Curiously  enough,  however,  the  most 
notable  incident  in  the  service  of  this  versatile  and 
self-effacing  colleague  was  a  characteristic  decision, 
which  she  made  among  hundreds  of  others  in  the  course 
of  her  daily  work.  There  presented  himself  one  day 
to  Miss  Mackie  a  young  Negro,  who  later  described 
himself  as  looking  like  "a  worthless  loafer  or  tramp," 
and  she  hesitated  to  admit  so  unpromising  an  applicant. 
Something  in  his  persistency  arrested  her  attention, 
however,  and  after  detaining  him  for  some  hours  she 
said :  "Take  this  broom  and  sweep  the  recitation  room." 
**I  swept  that  room,"  reports  the  candidate, "  three  times  "  ; 
and  the  fidelity  exhibited  seemed  to  warrant  for  him  a 
chance  to  stay.  This  "entrance  examination"  of  Booker 
Washington  remains  a  monument  of  Miss  Mackie's 
sagacity  and  insight.* 

Among  many  other  important  contributions  to  these 
beginnings  of  Hampton  must  be  mentioned  the  devoted 
service  of  Dr.  M.  M.  Waldron,  a  thoroughly  trained 
physician,  who  in  1872  enlisted,  at  first  as  an  academic 
teacher  and  later  as  the  beneficent  and  skilful  Resident- 
Physician  (1881-1910) ;  and  the  distinguished  career  of 
Miss  Helen  W.  Ludlow,  who  became  a  teacher  in  the 
academic  department  in  1872.     The  summons  of  General 

*"Up  from  Slavery,"  1901,  pp.  51,  52. 
106 


THE   STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Armstrong  to  her  remains  one  of  the  classic  passages  of 
Hampton  literature. 

"Hampton,  September  27,  1872. 
Dear  Miss  Ludlow: 

Five  millions  of  ex-slaves  appeal  to  you.  Will  you 
come }     Please  telegraph  if  you  can. 

There's  work  here  and  brave  souls  are  needed.  If 
you  care  to  sail  into  a  good  hearty  battle,  where  there's 
no  scratching  and  pin-sticking  but  great  guns  and  heavy 
shot  only  used,  come  here.  If  you  like  to  lend  a  hand 
where  a  good  cause  is  shorthanded,  come  here.       -  <^^  *^| 

We  are  growing  rapidly ;  there  is  an  inundation  of  stu- 
dents and  we  need  more  force.     We  want  you  as  teacher. 

'Shall  we  whose  souls  are  lighted?' — etc.  Please 
sing  three  verses  before  you  decide,  and  then  dip  your 
pen  in  the  rays  of  the  morning  light  and  say  to  this  call, 
like  the  gallant  old  Col.  Newcome,  *Adsum.' 

Sincerely  yours, 

S.  C.  Armstrong." 

The  letter  was  like  a  bugle-call,  and  Miss  Ludlow  obeyed 
it  as  though  summoned  into  action;  and  from  1872  to 
1910  gave  an  unremitting  devotion,  adding  her  literary 
gifts  to  the  assets  of  the  school.  The  constantly  en- 
larging circle  of  loyal  teachers,  of  which  these  two  were 
representative,  and  whom  Armstrong  playfully  described 
as  "the  noble  army  of  martyrs,"  were,  in  fact,  not  con- 
sciously martyrs  at  all,  but  found  in  happy  companion- 
ship an  experience  of  privilege  and  joy. 

107 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

What  kind  of  school,  then,  was  this  which  called  to  its 
service  so  remarkable  a  group  of  devoted  servants  ?  In 
the  first  circular  which  General  Armstrong  prepared, 
he  sets  forth  his  plan.  It  was  to  be  an  institution  where 
"in  the  home,  or  the  farm,  or  the  schoolroom,  students 
were  to  have  the  opportunity  to  learn  the  three  great 
lessons  of  life — how  to  love,  how  to  labor,  and  how  to 
teach  others.  .  .  .  Those  who  are  in  earnest  and  who 
come  with  a  stout  heart  and  two  willing  hands,  may  feel 
that  it  is  entirely  possible  for  them  to  push  their  way  to 
a  good  preparation  for  the  life-work  before  them."  Thirty 
young  men  and  twenty-two  young  women  answered  this 
call  during  the  first  year,  most  of  them  from  Virginia, 
but  a  number  from  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  one 
from  West  Virginia.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this 
solitary  migrant,  Henry  Clay  Payne  of  Charleston,  West 
Virginia,  venturing  on  what  must  have  appeared  to  him 
a  serious  journey  for  the  sake  of  education,  became  in 
his  turn  teacher  of  a  little  district  school,  where  a  young 
coal-miner,  Booker  T.  Washington,  was  first  taught, 
and  inspired  to  make  his  own  way  to  Hampton.  The 
same  circular  announced  to  prospective  students:  "Farm 
or  mechanical  labor  from  three  to  five  hours  n.  day  will 
nearly  pay  current  expenses"  ;  but  it  soon  became  obvious 
that  the  total  cost  must  far  outrun  the  probable  receipts. 

Then  began,  in  1870,  that  long  series  of  meetings  at 
the  North,  with  the  addresses,  visitations,  and  appeals, 
which,  while  they  consumed  Armstrong's  vitality,  gained 
for  him  and  his  work  appreciation  and  honor.  The 
108 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

first  of  these  Hampton  meetings  was  in  the  Music  Hall 
at  Boston.  }  ,It  was,  as  Armstrong  later  said,  the  starting- 
point  of  Hampton  work  in  New  England.  "Those  Bos- 
ton people,"  he  remarked,  "stay  converted,  and  their 
children  take  up  the  parents'  work."  With  a  confidence 
which  seemed  extravagant  a  building  of  considerable 
dimensions,  to  be  known  as  Academic  Hall,  had  already 
been  undertaken,  the  students  making  the  bricks,  and  a 
distinguished  New  York  architect,  Richard  M.  Hunt, 
contributing  the  design.  It  was  estimated  to  cost  $33,000 
and  of  this  sum  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  had  contributed 
$20,000.  "It  will  be,"  remarks  Armstrong,  with  an 
allusion  which  indicates  the  touching  poverty  of  the 
South  after  the  War,  "the  most  complete  and  tasteful 
school  building  in  the  Southern  States.  ...  I  have  to 
raise  some  $13,000  in  the  best  way  I  can."  It  was  for 
this  purpose  that  the  Boston  meeting  was  held ;  and  Mr. 
Howe,  the  Superintendent  of  Buildings,  thus  reports 
the  campaign  :  "After  Academic  Hall  was  begun,  we  had 
at  last  no  more  money  to  pay  the  hands.  'How  much 
do  we  owe  on  the  building.?'  said  the  General  to  me. 
The  bricks  were  all  made.  We  footed  up  the  bills  and 
found  we  owed  $17,000.  'Well,'  said  the  General,  'I 
am  going  North.  If  I  don't  get  that  money,  you'll  never 
see  me  again.'  He  went  to  General  Howard  and  to 
Boston  friends,  and  the  money  came,  as  it  always  did." 
The  friendships  thus  created  were  perhaps  of  even  more 
permanent  importance  than  the  building,  and  among 
them  as  a  beneficent  source  of  continuous  and  wise  gen- 

109 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

erosity  was  that  of  Mrs.  Augustus  Hemenway  of  Boston. 
"She  has  had,"  wrote  Armstrong,  "many  trials  in  her 
life,  but  has  issued  from  her  experiences  with  as  noble- 
hearted,  cheery,  and  charitable  a  soul  as  I  ever  knew, 
loves  all  her  kind,  is  thoroughly  democratic,  hates  airs 
and  nonsense,  and  her  three  surviving  children  are  won- 
derfully well  trained,  clear-headed,  sensible,  and  true- 
hearted." 

From  Boston  Armstrong  proceeded  to  hold  a  long 
series  of  meetings  through  Eastern  New  England.  "I 
was  forced  to  get  money  to  pay  the  pressing  way  of  the 
school  or  let  it  go  to  the  wall ;  and  at  it  I  went  with  all 
my  might,  and  haven't  had  a  day's  rest  for  two  months. 
It  is  hard,  this  begging — it  takes  all  one's  nervous  and* 
physical  strength  even  when  people  are  kind  and  polite, 
as  they  usually  are.  It  is  never,  and  never  can  be,  easy, 
and  I  have  always  to  use  all  my  strength — fire  every  gun 
— in  order  to  bring  to  the  hurried,  worried  business  men 
that  powerful  influence  which  alone  can  secure  money 
in  a  place  like  Boston,  where  for  every  dollar  even  the 
richest  are  able  to  give  there  are  ten  chances  to  put  it  to 
good  use  and  twenty  demands  for  it  from  one  source  or 
another.  It  is  amazing  how  hard  is  the  pressure  of 
appeal,  and  yet  how  polite  and  good-natured  most  people 
are,  how  patiently  they  listen,  and  how  many  give  up 
their  last  spare  dollar.  Boston  has  been  educated  to 
giving  and  jgives  splendidly.  In  all  this  howling  appeal 
and  fearful  competition  of  charities,  I  have  been  making 
the  best  fight  I  could — watching  every  chance,  following 
no 


HAMPTON  INSTITUTE  WATERFRONT,   1868 


HAMPION   INSIITUIE   VVA  lERFRON  1",    1878 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

every  chance,  finding  out  new  people,  making  new  friends 
to  the  cause,  talking  in  houses  and  in  churches,  at  parties 
and  dinner  tables — in  season  and  out  of  season,  pushing 
my  case  and,  on  the  whole,  I  have  done  well.  I  talked 
at  Marlboro,  Framingham,  Lynn,  Lowell,  Roxbury, 
Somerville,  Charlestown,  and  other  places;  sometimes 
making  three  addresses  a  day — and  all  in  one  suit  of 
clothes  that  served  for  every  blessed  purpose,  and  not  new 
at  that.  You  see  thinking  people  are  not  thin-skinned 
on  style.  ...  I  have  raised  a  few  thousand  dollars  and 
am  considered  to  have  had  remarkable  success,  considering 
the  times." 

In  1870  the  work  of  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  slackened, 
and  Armstrong's  life  was  free  from  divided  interests. 
In  1 87 1  an  undenominational  church  was  organized  at 
the  school,  and  the  Rev.  Richard  Tolman  of  Massachu- 
setts, who  had  come  to  the  South  as  a  hopeless  invalid, 
but  had  become  reinvigorated  by  the  contagious  vitality 
of  Armstrong,  served  for  eight  fruitful  years  as  pastor. 
A  covenant  was  adopted,  illustrating  the  catholicity  of 
intention  which  the  school,  gathering  its  pupils  from  many 
communions,  desired  to  express,  and  which  has  remained 
for  more  than  forty  years  the  substantial  foundation  of 
a  comprehensive  and  active  religious  life. 

"For  the  purpose  of  Christian  fellowship  and  the 
maintenance  of  the  ordinances  of  Christian  worship," 
this  Covenant  announced,  "  and  the  extension  of  Christ's 
kingdom  in  this  place,  we  do  hereby  declare  it  to  be  our 
purpose  to   form   ourselves   into  a  Christian   church,  to 

III 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

be  known  as  a  Church  of  Christ  in  Hampton,  Virginia, 
and  in  entering  into  this  fellowship  we  do  renew  our 
covenant  of  dedication  with  God  our  Father  and  Re- 
deemer and  Sanctifier ;  and  agree  that  we  will  strive  to 
walk  humbly  and  sincerely  before  Him,  asking  in  daily 
prayer  for  His  will  with  obedient  and  teachable  mind. 
That  we  will  faithfully  and  in  love  watch  over  and  ad- 
monish and  help  one  another  in  the  Christian  life.  That 
we  will  strive  to  do  good  to  all  our  fellow-men,  and  in 
all  things  to  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  trusting  always 
for  sufficient  help  and  for  final  and  complete  redemption 
from  sin  in  Jesus  Christ  our  only  Savior." 

In  1871,  also,  the  first  class  graduated, — five  young 
women  and  fourteen  young  men.  One  man  had  served 
under  Armstrong  in  the  war ;  one  young  woman  and  six 
young  men  proceeded  with  their  education  in  Northern 
colleges  or  at  Howard  and  Lincoln  Universities ;  two 
worked  their  way  through  Oberlin  College  as  carpenters ; 
one  was  appointed  teacher  on  a  United  States  training 
ship ;  one  became  a  respected  lawyer,  and  one  a  printer. 
All  at  one  time  or  another  were  teachers,  and  of  the  thou- 
sands they  taught  hundreds  more  became  teachers.  "Not 
one  of  that  first  class  made  a  disgraceful  record ;  some 
made  a  briUiant  one."  *  It  was  a  beginning  of  Hamp- 
ton which  must  have  revived  Armstrong's  hope  and  con- 
firmed the  courage  of  his  little  band  of  helpers. 

In  January  1872  an  illustrated  monthly  publication,  the 
Southern  Workman^  first  appeared,  under  the  editorship  of 

*  Ludlow  Mss.,  p.  649. 
112 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

the  Principal,  re-enforced  later  in  the  same  year  by  Miss 
Ludlow,  and  has  continued  for  more  than  forty  years  to 
be,  not  only  an  organ  of  the  school,  but  an  important 
source  of  information  and  counsel  concerning  the  larger 
problems  of  racial  progress.  In  the  same  year  also 
Hampton  was  granted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Vir- 
ginia one-third  of  the  income  from  the  sale  of  land  under 
the  Act  passed  by  Congress  in  1862  for  the  benefit  of 
State  agricultural  schools.  An  appropriation  of  ^10,000 
has  been  annually  received  for  this  purpose  and  has  not 
only  greatly  reduced  the  financial  burdens  of  the  school, 
but  has  been  a  permanent  evidence  of  the  confidence  of 
Virginia  in  its  work.  Of  the  nine  curators  (later  reduced 
to  six)  whose  gathering  with  the  Trustees  is  a  pleasant 
incident  of  each  annual  meeting,  three,  under  the  Statute, 
must  be  colored  men. 

Such  were  some  of  the  external  incidents  which  marked 
the  beginnings  of  Hampton.  Persistency,  tenacity,  and 
a  confident  faith  triumphed  over  indiflPerence,  ignorance, 
and  even  financial  depression  among  friends  at  the  North. 
"  For  most  people,"  wrote  General  Marshall  of  his  Chief, 
"an  obstacle  is  something  in  the  way  to  stop  going  on, 
but  for  General  Armstrong  it  merely  meant  something 
to  climb  over,  and  if  he  could  not  climb  all  the  way  over 
he  would  get  up  as  high  as  possible  and  then  crow ! " 
Of  his  own  life  of  incessant  care  and  passionate  resolu- 
tion, Armstrong  himself  later  wrote  :  *'I  have  had  a  taste 
of  blood,  that  is,  I  have  had  the  taste  of  life  and  work 
— cannot  live  without  the  arena.     I  must  be  in  it.  .  .  . 

113 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Despair  shakes  his  skinny  hands  and  glares  his  hideous 
eyes  on  me  to  little  purpose.  I  feel  happy  when  all  my 
powers  of  resistance  are  taxed."  Within  this  environ- 
ment of  incessant  and  often  harassing  work,  however, 
Armstrong's  mind  was  constantly  conceiving  larger 
plans  and  foreseeing  greater  issues.  Instead  of  being 
submerged  by  details  of  construction  and  administration, 
his  nature  was  buoyed  up  by  them  as  by  a  swiftly  moving 
stream,  and  he  struck  out  for  a  larger  channel  and  a  dis- 
tant shore.  His  correspondence  abounds  in  flashes  of  fore- 
sight and  in  revelations  of  his  own  deeper  nature  and  hopes. 
He  saw  his  enterprise  steadily  and  saw  it  whole. 

"What,"  he  asked  in  his  first  Report  to  the  Trustees, 
"should  be  the  character  of  an  educational  institution 
devoted  to  the  poorer  classes  of  the  South  ?  .  .  .  It 
is  useless  at  present  to  expect  the  ignorant  whites  to 
accept  instruction  side  by  side  with  the  colored  race. 
To  a  broad  impartiality  the  Negro  only  responds.  Let 
us  consider,  therefore,  what  answer  to  our  problem  is 
indicated  by  the  character  and  needs  of  the  freed  people. 
Plainly  a  system  is  required  which  shall  be  at  once  con- 
structive of  mental  and  moral  worth  and  destructive  of 
the  vices  characteristic  of  the  slave.  What  are  these 
vices  ?  They  are  improvidence,  low  ideas  of  honor  and 
morality,  and  a  general  lack]of  directive  energy,  judgment, 
and  foresight.  Thus  disabled,  the  ex-slave  enters  upon 
the  merciless  competition  incident  to  universal  freedom. 
Political  power  being  placed  in  his  hands,  he  becomes 
the  prey  of  the  demagogue  or  attempts  that  low  part 
"4 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

himself.  In  either  case  he  is  the  victim  of  his  greatest 
weakness,  vanity.  Mere  tuition  is  not  enough  to  rescue 
him  from  being  forever  a  tool,  politically  and  otherwise. 
The  educated  man  usually  overestimates  himself,  be- 
cause his  intellect  has  grown  faster  than  his  experience 
in  life;  but  the  danger  to  the  Negro  is  greater  propor- 
tionally as  his  desire  is  to  shine  rather  than  to  do.  His 
deficiencies  of  character  are,  I  believe,  worse  for  him  and 
the  world  than  his  ignorance. 

"  But  with  these  deficiencies  are  a  docility  and  enthu- 
siasm for  improvement,  and  a  perseverance  in  the  pursuit 
of  it,  which  form  a  basis  of  great  hope,  and  justify  any 
outlay  and  the  ablest  service  in  his  behalf.  .  .  .  First : 
the  plan  of  combining  mental  and  physical  labor  is  a 
priori  full  of  objections.  It  is  admitted  that  it  involves 
friction,  constant  embarrassment,  and  apparent  disad- 
vantage to  educational  advancement,  as  well  as  to  the 
profits  of  various  industries.  But  to  the  question :  *  Do 
your  students  have  sufficient  time  to  study  all  their 
lessons  faithfully  }*  I  should  answer :  'Not  enough,  judg- 
ing from  the  common  use  of  time;  but  under  pressure 
they  make  good  use  of  the  hours  they  have;  there  is 
an  additional  energy  put  forth,  an  increased  rate  of  study 
which  makes  up  for  the  time  spent  in  manual  labor,  while 
the  physical  vigor  gained  affords  abundant  strength  for 
severe  mental  labor.'  Nothing  is  of  more  benefit  than 
this  compulsory  waking  up  of  the  faculties.  After  a 
life  of  drudgery  the  plantation-hand  will,  under  this  sys- 
tem, brighten  and  learn  surprisingly  well.  .  .  . 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

"In  the  girls'  industrial  housework  departments,  there 
is  an  assignment,  for  a  period,  of  a  certain  number  to 
certain  duties.  On  the  farm  the  plan  of  working  the 
whole  force  of  young  men  for  a  few  hours  each  day  has 
been  given  up  for  the  better  one  of  dividing  them  into 
five  squads,  each  of  which  works  one  day  of  each  week 
and  all  on  Saturdays.  .  .  .  However  the  future  may  decide 
the  question,  our  two  years'  experience  of  the  manual- 
labor  system  has  been  satisfactory.  Progress  in  study 
has  been  rapid  and  thorough ;  I  venture  to  say,  not  ex- 
celled in  any  school  of  the  same  grade ;  there  have  been 
a  steadiness  and  solidity  of  character  and  a  spirit  of* 
self-denial  developed,  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
opportunities  manifested  which  would  not  be  possible 
under  other  conditions.  Unfortunately  there  is  a  limit 
to  the  number  who  can  be  profitably  employed.  This 
Institute  should,  I  think,  be  polytechnic — growing  step 
by  step,  adding  new  industries  as  the  old  ones  shall  be- 
come established  and  remunerative;  thus  enlarging  the 
limits  of  paying  labor  and  increasing  the  attendance, 
hoping  finally  to  crown  its  ruder  products  with  the  results 
of  finer  effort  in  the  region  of  art. 

"There  are  two  objective  points  before  us,  toward  one 
or  the  other  of  which  all  our  energies  must  soon  be  directed 
as  the  final  work  of  this  Institute.  One  is  the  training 
of  the  intellect,  storing  it  with  the  largest  amount  of 
knowledge,  producing  the  brightest  examples  of  culture ; 
the  other  is  the  more  difficult  one  of  attempting  to  edu- 
cate in  the  original  and  broadest  sense  of  the  word,  to 
Ji6 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

draw  out  a  complete  manhood.  The  former  is  a  laborious 
but  simple  work;  the  latter  is  full  of  difficulty.  It  is 
not  easy  to  surround  the  student  with  a  perfectly  balanced 
system  of  influences.  The  value  of  every  good  appliance 
is  limited,  and  ceases  when  not  perfectly  adjusted  to  the 
higher  end.  The  needle,  the  broom,  and  the  wash-tub,  the 
awl,  the  plane,  and  the  plow,  become  the  allies  of  the  globe, 
the  blackboard,  and  the  text-book.  .  .  .  But  what  should 
be  studied  in  a  course  like  this  ?  The  question  brings 
us  to  the  second  branch  of  our  subject ;  namely,  its  moral 
and  intellectual  aspect.  The  end  of  mental  training  is  a 
discipline  and  power,  not  derived  so  much  from  knowl- 
edge as  from  the  method  and  spirit  of  the  student.  I 
think  too  much  stress  is  laid  on  the  importance  of  choos- 
ing one  of  the  great  lines  of  study,  the  classics  or  the  natu- 
ral sciences,  and  too  Httle  upon  the  vital  matter  of  insight 
into  the  life  and  spirit  of  that  which  is  studied.  Latin 
as  taught  by  one  man  is  an  inspiration,  by  another  it 
is  drudgery.  Who  can  say  that  the  study  of  this  or  that 
is  requisite,  without  conditioning  its  value  upon  the 
fitness  of  the  teacher  ?  Vital  knowledge  cannot  be  got 
from  books;  it  comes  from  insight,  and  we  attain  it  by 
earnest  and  steady  thought,  under  wise  direction. 

"But  let  us  consider  the  practical  question  whether 
the  classics  should  be  made  an  object  in  our  course,  or 
whether,  ruling  them  out,  we  should  teach  only  the  higher 
English  studies.  It  is  the  theory  of  Matthew  Arnold  that 
a  teacher  should  develop  the  special  aptitudes ;  to  ignore 
them  is  failure;    the  attempt  to  cast  all  minds  in  one 

117 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

mould  is  useless.  But  for  one  Anglo-African  who  would, 
on  this  theory,  need  to  acquire  the  ancient  languages, 
there  are,  I  believe,  twenty  whose  best  aptitude  would 
find  full  scope  in  the  study  of  the  mother-tongue  and  its 
literature,  supposing  them  to  have  a  taste  for  language 
and  for  the  higher  pursuits  of  the  human  mind.  Emer- 
son says  :  'What  is  really  best  in  any  book  is  translatable 
— any  real  insight  or  broad  human  sentiment.'  He  who 
has  mastered  the  English,  then,  has  within  reach  what- 
ever is  best  in  all  literature. 

"Our  three  years'  course,  with  but  little  preliminary 
training,  cannot  be  expected  to  furnish  much.  Our  stu- 
dents can  never  become  advanced  enough  in  that  time 
to  be  more  than  superficially  acquainted  with  Latin  and 
Greek;  their  knowledge  would  rather  tend  to  cultivate 
their  conceit  than  to  fit  them  for  faithful  educators  of 
their  race — because  not  complete  enough  to  enable  them 
to  estimate  its  true  value.  The  great  need  of  the  Negro 
is  logic,  and  the  subjection  of  feeling  to  reason;  yet  in 
supplying  his  studies  we  must  exercise  his  curiosity,  his 
love  of  the  marvellous,  and  his  imagination,  as  means  of 
sustaining  his  enthusiasm. 

"An  English  course  embracing  reading  and  elocution, 
geography  and  mathematics,  history,  the  sciences,  the 
study  of  the  mother-tongue  and  its  literature,  the  leading 
principles  of  mental  and  moral  science,  and  of  political 
economy,  would,  I  think,  make  up  a  curriculum  that 
would  exhaust  the  best  powers  of  nineteen-twentieths 
of  those  who  would  for  years  to  come  enter  the  Institute. 
ii8 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Should,  however,  any  pupil  have  a  rare  aptitude  for 
the  classics  and  desire  to  become  a  man  of  letters  in 
the  largest  sense,  it  would  be  our  duty  to  provide  special 
instruction  for  him  or  send  him  where  he  could  re- 
ceive it.  For  such  the  Howard  University  at  Wash- 
ington offers  a  broad  and  high  plane  of  intellectual  ad- 
vantage. 

"The  question  of  co-education  of  the  sexes  is,  to  my 
mind,  settled  by  most  favorable  experience  with  the 
present  plan.  Our  school  is  a  little  world ;  the  life  is 
genuine ;  the  circle  of  influence  is  complete.  The  system 
varies  industry  and  cheapens  the  cost  of  living.  If  the 
condition  of  woman  is  the  true  gauge  of  civilization, 
how  should  we  be  working,  except  indirectly,  for  a  real 
elevation  of  society  by  training  young  men  alone  ?  The 
freed  woman  is  where  slavery  left  her.  Her  average  state 
is  one  of  pitiable  destitution  of  whatever  should  adorn 
and  elevate  her  sex.  In  every  respect  the  opportunities 
of  the  sexes  should  be  equal,  and  two  years  of  experience 
have  shown  that  young  men  and  women  of  color  may 
be  educated  together  to  the  greatest  mutual  advantage, 
and  without  detriment  to  a  high  moral  standard.  .  .  . 

"We  now  come  to  the  consideration  of  the  third  branch 
of  our  subject,  namely  the  disciplinary  features  of  the 
institution.  No  necessity  has  so  far  arisen  for  the  adop- 
tion of  a  system  of  marks,  prizes,  or  other  such  incentives. 
Expulsion  has  sometimes,  though  rarely,  been  resorted 
to.  Our  most  perplexing  cases  have  been  those  of  honest, 
well-meaning  students,  either  of  limited  ability  and  fine 

119 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

character,  or  those  of  low  propensity  or  childishness  or 
coarseness  of  character.  One  of  the  latter  class  may  be 
a  zealous  student,  and  there  may  be  a  power  in  him  that 
will  be  used  in  a  good  or  bad  cause,  yet  this  evil  trait 
will  be  quickly  caught  by  the  pliant  and  younger  ones 
around  him.  He  finally  may  become  a  strong  and  worthy 
man,  but,  meanwhile,  great  mischief  is  wrought;  the 
tone  of  the  school  is  lowered  ;  many  have  learned  wicked- 
ness of  which  they  can  scarcely  be  cured.  The  cele- 
brated head-master  of  Rugby  said  :  'Till  a  man  learns 
that  the  first,  second,  and  the  third  duty  of  a  school- 
master is  to  get  rid  of  unpromising  subjects,  a  great  pub- 
lic school  will  never  be  what  it  might  be  and  what  it 
ought  to  be.'  A  course  of  study,  beyond  the  rudiments, 
is  not  best  for  all.  I  expect  young  men  will  be  discharged, 
without  dishonor,  from  this  Institute,  who  will  become 
eminent  partly  because  sent  off  to  travel  a  more  difficult 
and  heroic  way.  .  .  .  To  implant  right  motive-power  and 
good  habits,  aided  by  the  student's  own  perceptions, 
to  make  him  train  himself,  is  the  end  of  discipline.  Yet 
there  is  need  of  much  external  force,  mental  and  moral, 
especially  upon  the  plastic  natures  with  which  we  deal. 
There  must  be  study  of  the  character,  advice,  sympathy, 
and  above  all  a  judicious  letting  alone. 

**0f  all  our  work,  that  upon  the  heart  is  the  most  im- 
portant ;  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  paramount 
necessity  of  teaching  the  vital  precepts  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  of  striving  to  awaken  a  genuine  enthusiasm 
for  the  higher  life  that  shall  be  sustained  and  shall  be 

120 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

the  strong  support  of  the  young  workers  who  may  go  out 
to  be  examples  to  their  race. 

"In  the  history  of  our  institution  so  far,  we  have  cause 
for  encouragement.  Three  years  ago  this  month,  our 
building  began  with  but  $2000  on  hand  or  in  prospect; 
for  although  the  American  Missionary  Association  selected 
and  purchased  this  most  fortunate  spot  and  paid  our 
running  expenses,  it  could  not  offer  the  means  of  con- 
struction. Already  nearly  $100,000  have  been  expended 
in  permanent  improvements,  for  which  we  may  thank 
the  Freedmen's  Bureau  and  Northern  benefactors.  I 
think  we  may  reasonably  hope  to  build  up  here,  on  his- 
toric ground,  an  institution  that  will  aid  freedmen  to 
escape  from  the  difficulties  that  surround  them,  by  af- 
fording the  best  possible  agency  for  their  improvement  in 
mind  and  heart  by  sending  out,  not  pedagogues,  but 
those  whose  culture  shall  be  upon  the  whole  circle  of 
living,  and  who  with  clear  insight  and  strong  purpose 
will  do  a  quiet  work  that  shall  make  the  land  purer  and 
better." 

In  a  more  playful  vein  Armstrong  makes  a  similar 
report  of  his  intentions  and  ideals  to  his  classmates  at 
Williams  College  on  the  celebration  of  the  twelfth  anni- 
versary of  graduation  in  1874.  "I  have,"  he  writes  them, 
"a  remarkable  machine  for  the  elevation  of  our  colored 
brethren,  on  which  I  mean  to  take  out  a  patent.  .  .  . 
About  $370,000  have  been  expended  here  since  I  took 
hold  in  the  fall  of  1867.  ...  I  am  the  most  fortunate  man 
in  the  world  in  my  family.     I  have  a  wife  and  two  little 

121 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

girls — one  two  and  the  other  four  years  of  age.  My 
'jewels'  are  the  rarest  and  richest  on  the  planet.  .  .  .  The 
stake  of  my  destiny  is  planted  here — and  I  have  never  re- 
gretted it ;  this  is  part  of  the  war,  on  a  higher  plane  and 
with  spiritual  weapons ;  it  will  not  soon  end  and  success 
is  yet  to  be  won.  I  cannot  understand  the  prevailing 
view  of  the  war  among  even  pious  and  intelligent  Amer- 
icans— it  is  simply  barbaric — to  whip  the  South  and  go 
home  rejoicing,  to  build  monuments  of  victory,  leaving 
one-third  of  their  countrymen  in  the  depths  of  distress. 
The  case  is  chiefly  moral  and  the  duty  sits  very  lightly 
on  the  general  conscience." 

His  reflections  at  this  time  on  the  nature  and  signifi- 
cance of  industrial  education  are  still,  after  fifty  years, 
not  without  their  place  in  the  controversy,  never  more 
heated  than  now,  between  the  Modernists  and  the  Hu- 
manists. "The  question  is  not,"  he  says,  "Does  the 
farm  support  itself  ^  but.  What  does  it  do  for  the  student  ? 
People  do  not  yet  understand  the  need  of  supporting 
professors  who  shall  impart  practical  knowledge,  teach 
habits  of  labor,  of  self-reliance,  as  they  do  the  endowing 
of  Greek  professorships.  To  destroy  the  industrial 
system  would  be  to  reduce  the  expenses  of  the  institution, 
but  it  would  change  its  character  and  results,  and  place 
it  beyond  the  reach  of  the  most  needy  and  deserving 
class  of  pupils." 

'  With  some  thought,  no  doubt,  of  his  own  impatient 
will  he  commends  to  his  colleagues  the  patience  which 
their  work  demands.     No  social  reformer  was  by  nature 

122 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

more  inclined  to  precipitancy  than  Armstrong.  He 
would  have  accepted  as  his  own  the  confession  of 
Theodore  Parker  concerning  the  slow  progress  of  the 
antislavery  cause.  *'The  trouble  seems  to  be  that  God 
is  not  in  a  hurry,  and  I  am."  Yet  as  his  work  de- 
velops he  sees  that  it  needs  a  large  jarea  of  time  and  a 
discipHned  willingness  to  wait.  "There  is,"  he  writes 
in  January  1877,  "need  of  patience  in  all  mission  work. 
We  are  likely  to  die  without  the  sight  of  a  Negro  civiliza- 
tion. The  feverish  craving  for  immediate  results  that 
inspired  the  great  efforts  and  gifts  of  the  first  ten  years 
from  1862  was  not  a  working  principle,  sure  of  and  faith- 
ful to  its  end,  but  rather  a  philanthropic  clash  tending 
to  the  reaction  which  has  followed ;  and  to  a  disappoint- 
ment that  sprinkling  schoolhouses  over  the  South  for  a 
few  years  did  not  change  the  moral  condition  of  the 
freedmen.  Negro  civilization,  like  all  civilization,  is  of 
slow  growth ;  it  has  its  periods  of  action  and  reaction. 
Only  in  the  perspective  of  generations  can  real  progress 
be  seen  satisfactorily.  Education  is  a  slowly  working 
leaven  in  an  immense  mass,  whose  pervasive,  directive 
force  cannot  be  felt  generally  for  many  years.  We  ought 
to  see  and  we  hope  to  see  the  foundations  of  a  Negro 
civilization  well  laid.  It  is  well  for  the  workers  in  this 
cause  to  remember  that  they  are  commencing,  not 
finishing." 

Again,  in  April  1877,  with  accurate  prevision,  he 
observes  the  place  which  education  must  hold  in  the 
future  of  democracy.     "Whatever  the  value  of  general 

123 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

education  under  other  forms  of  government,  it  is  ab- 
solutely essential  to  the  safety  and  continuance  of  Re- 
publican institutions.  If  we  would  not  see  these  stifled 
out  of  existence  by  a  flood  of  ignorance  which  has  been 
let  in  upon  the  land  by  the  breaking  down  of  the  bar- 
riers of  slavery,  more  vigorous  measures  must  be  taken 
than  have  yet  been  instituted.  Great  as  the  private 
and  local  efforts  and  their  results  have  been  compared 
with  actual  needs,  they  are  useful  only  as  showing  what 
ought  to  be  done  and  how  to  do  it.  We  cannot  irrigate 
this  great  desert  by  streams  of  private  benevolence; 
we  must  let  in  the  sea.  .  .  .  The  South  to-day  is  in  a  better 
temper  for  providing  the  black  man  with  education  than 
it  ever  has  been ;  the  movement  is  onward,  it  is  slow 
but  sure.  The  changes  have  been  tremendous.  The 
Negro's  opportunity  has  been  created ;  it  is  not  as  ample 
as  it  should  be,  but  it  is  enough  for  a  trial.  The  im- 
portance that  the  colored  race  should  at  this  point  by 
every  industry,  energy,  and  wise  ambition  for  self-govern- 
ment ratify  its  title  to  its  new  rights  cannot  be  over- 
estimated." 

Finally,  he  announces  the  general  principle  of  life 
which  he  had  discovered  and  which  should,  in  his 
mature  judgment,  direct  and  illuminate  all  missionary 
work.  "The  progress  of  thought  in  the  last  fifty  years 
has  not  failed  to  affect  the  conduct  of  missionary  enter- 
prises as  well  as  that  of  secular  aff'airs.  To  throw  the 
whole  heart  into  the  work,  to  labor  in  season  and  out  of 
season  and  leave  results  to  God,  was  the  whole  idea  of 
124 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

missionary  exertion  in  the  past ;  and  a  grand  idea  it  was, 
producing  some  of  the  highest  types  of  Christian  manhood 
and  womanhood,  and  not  merely  acting  upon  heathen 
nations  but  re-acting  upon  the  missionary  nations  as  an 
inspiration,  Hfting  them  to  higher  planes  of  life  and  hero- 
ism. With  no  less  of  Christian  ardor  and  heroism,  the 
progress  of  thought  and  experience  has  suggested  im- 
proved methods  of  work  and  a  more  discriminating 
economy  of  men  and  means,  adding  to  zeal  knowledge. 
Men  feel  their  responsibility  not  only  for  motives,  but 
methods.  The  value  of  the  manual-labor  system  has 
been  proved  again  and  again  in  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
in  Jamaica,  and  in  Virginia."  .  .  .  "Only  the  most  vigor- 
ous and  wise  educational  effort,  only  an  active  interest 
in  mental  and  moral  welfare  on  the  part  of  good  men  of 
all  sections,  will  save  Virginia  and  other  States  from  being 
pushed  by  nearly  a  million  well-meaning,  but  blind  and 
incapable  Negro  voters,  to  say  nothing  of  a  host  of  equally 
incompetent  whites,  into  fatal  political  blunders." 

Here,  then,  was  not  only  the  ardent  enthusiasm  of  a 
young  missionary,  giving  himself,  as  hundreds  of  others 
had  done,  with  generous  devotion  to  a  humble  task, 
but  the  prophetic  foresight  of  a  discerning  seer,  reading 
the  future  by  the  light  of  the  past  and  observing  the 
great  results  which  might  issue  from  small  affairs. 
These  paragraphs  on  the  moral  effect  of  manual  edu- 
cation, on  the  retardation  of  social  progress  which  must 
be  expected  and  endured,  on  the  nature  of  democracy 
and    of  effective    missionary   work,  were   written    for   a 

125 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

small  group  of  fellow-workers,  and  published  in  a  modest 
journal  issued  by  an  obscure  and  much  criticised  school ; 
but  they  abound  in  doctrines  which  have  not  lost  their 
timeliness,  and  in  anticipations  which  after  fifty  years 
are  but  partially  reahzed.  No  student  of  the  "New 
Education,"  or  of  the  problems  of  democracy,  or  of  a 
missionary  service  adapted  to  a  modern  world,  can  af- 
ford to  be  ignorant  of  Armstrong's  contributions,  both 
to  science  and  to  prophecy.  The  beginnings  of  Hampton 
were  established  on  a  sure  foundation,  not  merely  of  land 
and  buildings  acquired  with  so  much  energy  on  Arm- 
strong's part  and  so  much  loyalty  on  the  part  of  his 
friends,  but  on  the  still  more  permanent  principles  of 
which  his  modest  enterprise  was  a  symbol,  and  on  the 
convincing  language  in  which  those  principles  were 
confidently  expressed. 


126 


CHAPTER  FIVE 

THE    YEARS    OF    PROMISE    (1872-1878) 

THE  years  succeeding  the  first  struggle  for  existence  were 
a  period  of  rapid  growth  at  Hampton.  Where  in  1868 
the  school  had  opened  with  15  students,  and  in  1871  its 
first  class  of  19  had  graduated,  the  number  of  students  in 
1878  had  reached  323,  its  staff  of  teachers  24,  and  a 
Training  School  had  been  organized  with  90  pupils.  One 
substantial  building.  Academic  Hall,  had  been  finished  in 
1 87 1,  and  the  generosity  both  of  friends  and  of  the  Freed- 
men's  Bureau  seemed  nearly  exhausted.  Girls  were  still 
housed  in  barracks  and  for  the  young  men  army-tents 
were  pitched,  where  Armstrong  applied  his  military  ex- 
perience to  teach  his  pupils  the  art  of  "roughing  it." 
1  It  soon  became  necessary  to  provide  more  permanent 
quarters  and  the  Principal's  sanguine  mind  conceived  of 
a  monumental  structure  which  should  assure  the  future 
of  the  school.  Again,  as  in  his  vision  of  the  whole  under- 
taking, he  saw  the  completed  plan  of  an  adequate  build- 
ing in  imagination  before  it  was  ever  drawn,  and  fixed  on 
its  name,  site,  and  uses  before  a  dollar  was  in  hand. 
Mr.  Howe,  who  was  to  superintend  it,  has  said  of  the  new 
project :  "Then  next  came  Virginia  Hall.  There  wasn't 
$2000  in  sight  for  it  when  it  was  begun.     It  cost  $98,000. 

127 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Richard  M.  Hunt  was  the  architect.  The  General's  idea 
was  to  build  for  permanence  and  he  believed  that  the 
people  would  sustain  the  work.  He  came  to  my  house 
and  we  sat  on  the  stairs  and  talked.  He  said  :  'The  way 
to  do  is  to  plough  out  a  hole  and  pile  the  bricks  and  lum- 
ber round.  I'll  get  a  party  of  people  down  from  the  North 
and  make  it  appeal  to  them.'  So  he  did.  We  built  the 
foundation  first  and  had  the  corner-stone  all  ready  to  be 
laid^had  the  basement  commenced,  so  they  could  see  the 
work  under  way.  A  large  party  came  down — some  of 
the  best  people  of  New  York  and  Boston.  The  tide  was 
way  up  when  they  landed ;  the  ladies  had  to  come  sliding 
down  the  gang  plank.  But  we  had  a  grand  time  and  the 
money  came.  Before  we  got  the  Hall  finished,  though, 
the  panic  of  '73  came.  The  General  went  up  to  Boston 
and  wrote  me  :  'Stop  all  hands  for  the  present ;  I  don't  see 
my  course  clear  to  pay  them.'  There  was  no  one  here  for 
me  to  consult.  But  I  had  great  faith  in  General  Arm- 
strong's abiHty  to  pull  through  anything.  I  told  Mr. 
Cake,  the  builder,  I  thought  we  had  better  not  stop  if  we 
could  help  it.  I  went  round  and  told  the  hands:  'We 
can't  pay  you  by  the  week,  only  once  a  month.'  They 
agreed,  and  we  went  ahead,  and  the  money  came  by  the 
time  we  had  to  have  it.  So  the  place  went  ahead  year 
after  year." 

A  teacher  who  reached  Hampton  at  about  this 
time  recalls  her  experience  as  follows :  "  My  stay  on  the 
place  had  been  numbered  only  by  weeks  when  General 
Armstrong  pointed  out  to  me  the  present  site  of  Virginia 
128 


<    £ 
E 

>     = 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Hall,  and  talked  at  length  of  the  building  he  meant  to 
put  up  for  the  girls.  He  had  planned  not  only  the  build- 
ing but  the  details  of  it.  In  his  own  characteristic  way  he 
added  as  he  started  off:  *Yes,  now  the  Academic  is  up, 
that  is  the  next  thing  to  do!'  In  four  years'  time  that 
vision  was  realized."  Still  another  observer  of  the  progress 
in  building  rises  to  a  note  of  reverence  :  "There  is  some- 
thing actually  sublime  in  the  way  those  walls  have  gone 
steadily  up,  rising  day  after  day  right  through  this  panic, 
when  the  largest  business  firms  have  been  brought  to  a 
standstill.  It  is  like  the  movement  of  God's  providence." 
The  strain  of  the  financial  burden  which  this  new  en- 
terprise involved  suggested  a  new  scheme  of  money- 
raising,  which  has  since  become  familiar,  and  has  touched 
both  the  hearts  and  the  pocket-books  of  great  numbers  of 
listeners.  The  "Jubilee  Singers"  of  Fisk  University  had 
already  illustrated  before  Northern  audiences  the  peculiar 
poignancy  and  pathos  of  the  Negro  "Spirituals,"  and  had 
even  been  tempted  to  sail  to  Europe  to  promote  their  cause 
by  their  singing.  This  new  mine  of  aesthetic  interest  had 
not,  however,  been  exhausted.  A  vein  of  original  and 
singularly  appealing  music  had  been  imbedded  in  the  ex- 
perience of  slavery,  and  the  very  sufferings  of  the  Negro 
race  had  brought  it  to  Hght.  In  the  cabins  and  by  the 
camp  fires,  after  the  day's  forced  labor  and  with  the  pas- 
sion of  an  emotional  faith,  a  strain  of  weird  melody,  with 
cadences  and  intervals  of  a  wholly  new  and  strangely 
moving  type,  had  been  uttered  and  transmitted  from 
group  to  group ;    and  words  which  precisely  fitted  these 

129 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

strange  harmonies,  sometimes  Scriptural  and  prophetic, 
sometimes  wrought  out  of  sad  experience,  sometimes 
touched  with  grim  humor,  had  been  intuitively  chosen  to 
report  the  spiritual  history  of  slaves. 

Folk-song,  in  its  normal  types,  has,  as  a  rule,  con- 
cerned itself  with  two  absorbing  themes — the  ambitions 
of  war  and  the  passion  of  love.  Either  the  lust  of 
conquest  or  the  desire  of  sex  has  been  its  dominating 
note.  War-songs  and  love-songs  have  made  the  music 
of  camps  and  firesides,  from  the  days  of  nomadic  tribes 
to  the  days  of  modern  pleasure-seekers  in  their  merry 
companionships.  The  Negro  race  was,  however,  by 
the  tragedy  of  its  fate,  detached  in  a  unique  degree 
from  both  of  these  sources  of  human  satisfaction.  Its 
servile  condition  deprived  it  alike  of  the  experiences 
of  war  and  of  the  affinities  and  permanence  of  love.  It 
could  not  sing  of  battles,  and  it  could  not  be  sure  of  a 
stable  and  united  home.  Yet  it  was  a  race  full  of  music, 
and  its  sunny  and  smiling  nature  broke  at  the  least  touch 
into  song.  A  tropical  warmth  was  in  the  voices  of 
Negroes,  and  a  peculiar  sense  of  rhythm  in  their  speech 
and  even  in  the  gait  with  which  they  moved.  How,  then, 
could  they  satisfy  this  aesthetic  need  ?  There  were  but 
two  sources  left  from  which  they  could  derive  material 
for  folk-song.  One  was  in  their  work ;  the  other  was  in 
their  religion.  The  only  rest  they  had  from  work,  except 
in  sleep,  was  in  prayer;  and  the  only  prayer  they  could 
hopefully  offer  was  for  delivery  in  another  world  from  the 
slavery  of  work. 
130 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Thus  it  was  that  a  wholly  new  type,  both  of  words 
and  music,  sprang  from  their  oppressed  condition,  and 
reached  the  attention  of  Northern  listeners  through  the 
untutored  singers  who  had  inherited  the  traditions  of 
the  cabins  and  the  fields.  Colonel  T.  W.  Higginson, 
listening  to  his  soldiers,  heard,  as  he  wrote,  "Nothing 
but  patience  for  this  life ;  nothing  but  triumph  for  the 
next."  They  sang  of  the  cotton-plantations  and  the 
long  day  of  toil. 

"Nobody  knows  de  trouble  I've  seen, 
Nobody  knows  but  Jesus"; 

"Fighting  on,  we  are  almost  down  to  de  shore";  "Stay 
in  de  field  'til  de  war  is  ended"  ;  "Hard  trials,  great  tribu- 
lation, I  am  boun'  to  leabe  dis  world";  "Oh,  my  good 
Lord,  keep  me  from  sinkin'  down,"  With  even  more 
persistency  and  pathos  they  sang  of  a  better  world  where 
they  were  at  last  to  find  freedom  and  rest.  "Swing  low, 
sweet  chariot,  comin'  for  to  carry  me  home" ;  "Way  ober 
in  Jordan,  view  de  land!"  "My  Lord  delibered  Daniel; 
why  can't  he  deliber  me?"  "Wide  ribber !  Dere's  one 
more  ribber  to  cross"  ;  "Oh,  de  Ian'  I  am  bound  for,  sweet 
Canaan's  happy  land!" 

Here  was  indeed  new  material  for  song,  and  it  clothed 
itself  in  musical  forms  which  art  could  not  have 
created,  but  which  reproduced  the  dominating  sadness, 
the  recurring  sighs,  and  the  unconquerable  hope  of 
generations  of  slaves.  It  is  music  which  is  heard  at  its 
best  only  as  a  mass  of  sound   rises  from  the  hearts  of 

131 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

a  multitude.  It  misses  much  of  the  finer  shading  and 
the  firmer  attack  of  a  trained  chorus  of  white  singers. 
Its  cadences  swerve  and  droop  to  minor  keys,  as  though 
with  weariness  or  despair,  and  when  it  is  joyous  or  ex- 
cited the  rhythm  calls  for  the  bodily  gestures  of  hand  and 
feet  with  which  the  Negro  camp-meetings  were  familiar. 
Yet  for  sheer  emotional  exaltation,  for  piercing  poign- 
ancy, for  that  aesthetic  pleasure  which  is  never  far  from 
tears,  the  effect  of  the  finest  "Spirituals,"  as  sung  by  a 
great  body  like  the  students  of  Hampton,  is  a  unique  ex- 
perience. It  has  been  compared  by  high  authority  with 
the  emotional  climaxes  which  are  reached  in  the  dramas 
of  Wagner,  where  music  and  passion  become  one,  and 
artistic  appreciation  is  forgotten  in  an  aesthetic  thrill. 
Such  was  the  music  which  the  Hampton  Singers  made 
familiar  to  Northern  audiences,  and  through  which 
they  set  themselves  to  "sing  up"  Virginia  Hall.  "We 
start  for  Washington  tonight,"  wrote  General  Armstrong 
on  February  3,  1873.  "You  may  hear  of  us  in  the 
papers.  I  have  the  whole  responsibility  on  my  shoulders, 
and  the  entire  management  of  the  company."  * 


'  *  The  scientific  study  of  this  contribution  to  folk-song  has  of  late  attracted 
much  attention.  Cf:  H.  E.  Krehbiel,  "Afro-American  Folk-songs,"  1914; 
and  forthcoming  volumes  by  Mrs.  Natalie  Curtis  Burlin,  "  Negro  Folk- 
Songs "  (4  books)  in  which  this  gifted  and  scrupulous  student  of  Indian 
music  applies  the  same  methods  of  direct  record  to  the  Negro  "  Spirituals." 
"jThe  most  obvious  point  of  demarcation,"  she  says  in  her  "Foreword,"  "  be- 
tween Negro  music  and  European  is  found,  of  course,  in  the  rhythm.  .  .  . 
[Negro]  rhythms  are  uneven,  jagged,  and  at  a  first  hearing,  eccentric.  .  .  . 
Rhythmically  the  Negro  folk-song  has  far  more  variety  of  accent  than  the 
European ;   it  captivates  the  ear  and  the  imagination  with  its  exciting  vitality 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

These  Singers  took  their  school-books  with  them  on 
their  journeyings,  "studying  and  reciting  as  they  jour- 
neyed, and  on  their  return  finished  their  school  course 
with  credit.  Almost  without  exception  they  made  ex- 
cellent records  in  after  life."  With  some  individual 
changes  the  company  stayed  in  the  field  for  two  years  and 


and  with  its  sense  of  alertness  and  movement.  .  .  .  Another  characteristic 
of  the  Negro  musically,  is  a  harmonic  sense  indicating  musical  intuition  of  a 
high  order.  Some  of  the  most  beautiful  improvisational  part-singing  may  rise 
from  the  throats  of  utterly  illiterate  black  laborers  in  a  tobacco  factory.  .  .  . 
Indeed,  the  music  of  the  Dark  Continent  is  rich  in  harmonic  as  well  as  rhythmic 
suggestions  for  the  European.  .  .  .  Such  melodies  as  'Go  down,  Moses,* 
*  Four  and  twenty  elders  on  their  knees,'  '  Run,  Mary,  run,'  speak  from  the 
very  soul  of  the  black  race,  and  no  white  man  could  have  conceived  them.  .  .  . 
The  mellow  softness  of  pronunciation  added  to  vocal  peculiarities, — the  subtle 
embellishment  of  grace-notes,  turns  and  quavers,  and  the  delightful  little  up- 
ward break  in  the  voice, — these  can  be  but  crudely  indicated  or  described  in 
the  hope  of  awakening  true  memory  in  those  who  know  Negro  song.  .  .  .  We 
of  the  white  race  are  at  last  awakening  to  the  fact  that  the  Negro  in  our 
midst  stands  at  the  gates  of  human  culture  with  full  hands,  laden  with  gifts." 

In  an  unpublished  chapter  by  the  gifted  composer,  R.  Nathaniel  Dett, 
Director  of  Vocal  Music  at  Hampton  Institute,  he  declines  to  believe  in 
the  absence  of  the  motive  of  love  in  Negro  folk-songs.  "  Such  melodies,"  he 
says,  "  would  not  be  sung  in  the  open,  when  marriage  was  not  taught  the 
slaves  as  a  holy  institution."  They  were  "hidden  deep  in  the  heart  of  the 
race,  too  deep  for  the  eyes  of  the  prying  ethnologist.  ...  It  is  only  to 
the  elect  that  the  Negro  would  reveal  such  things  as  lie  so  close  to  the 
heart."  This  theory  of  esoteric  love  songs  is  of  great  interest  and  may  well 
tempt  the  Negro  inquirer.  "  It  will  probably  take  a  Negro,"  Mr.  Dett  says,  "  a 
musician  who  is  yet  a  man  of  his  people,  to  find  and  transcribe  them."  It  would 
be  a  discovery  analogous  to  that  of  the  esoteric  rituals  of  Indian  tribes,  among 
which  a  stranger — and  even  a  scientific  student — might  live  for  years  without 
suspicion  of  its  existence  or  control.  Yet  the  possibility  of  this  undiscovered 
strain  of  song  does  not  refute  the  fact  that  in  the  ordinary  folk-song  of  the  Negro 
it  is  never — or  at  most  very  rarely — heard.  If  it  is  ever  touched,  it  must 
be  within  the  silence  of  the  heart  or  the  seclusion  of  the  secret  gathering.  The 
habitual  singing  of  the  Negro  was  robbed  by  slavery  of  its  sweetest  note. 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

a  half,  giving  about  five  hundred  concerts  and  traversing 
thousands  of  miles  through  eighteen  States  and  Canada. 
During  their  first  year  of  travel  they  earned  ten  thousand 
dollars  as  their  net  proceeds.  In  the  second  year  they 
were  overtaken  by  a  financial  panic  and  the  concerts 
brought  Httle  direct  profit ;  though  the  visit  of  the  Singers 
to  one  small  town  in  Massachusetts  produced  an  individual 
gift  of  ^lOjCXX)  to  build  Whitin  Chapel  in  Virginia  Hall. 
On  June  12,  1873,  the  cornerstone  of  the  new  building, 
in  large  part  "sung  up,"  was  laid,  and  Armstrong  said  of 
it :  "As  security  for  its  completion  we  have  our  faith 
in  our  earnest  effort,  in  the  people  of  this  country,  and 
in  God."  The  security,  which  might  appear  to  some 
financiers  somewhat  speculative,  proved  sound ;  and  in 
1875  Virginia  Hall  became  the  dignified  centre  of  the 
school's  activities. 

The  successful  issue  of  this  ambitious  scheme  only 
spurred  Armstrong  to  further  plans  of  expansion.  Vari- 
ous forms  of  industrial  training — shoemaking,  painting, 
carpentering,  and  blacksmithing,  were  undertaken  in 
modest  quarters  in  1874,  and  prepared  the  way  for  a 
firmly  established  organization.  Building  after  building 
was  added  to  the  plant.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  corner- 
stones of  two  buildings  were  to  be  laid  by  Bishop  Potter 
of  New  York  a  shower  approached,  and  someone  said 
to  Bishop  Potter,  "  Had  we  not  better  wait  ?  It  will  be 
soon  over."  "Oh,  no,"  answered  the  Bishop.  "If  I 
wait.  General  Armstrong  will  have  another  cornerstone 
ready!" 

134 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

A  system  of  military  inspection,  drill,  and  regulation 
was  established  in  1878,  and  an  officer  of  the  regular 
army  detailed  to  direct  it.  "  It  is  not  intended,'*  General 
Armstrong  said,  "to  make  soldiers  out  of  our  stu- 
dents, or  create  a  warlike  spirit.  Drill,  daily  inspection 
of  persons  and  rooms,  in  an  organization  without  arms, 
will  create  ideas  of  neatness,  order,  system,  obedience, 
and  produce  a  better  manhood."  Uniforms  and  flags  were 
therefore  adopted,  and  have  always  continued  to  be  re- 
garded, not  as  martial  but  as  moral  insignia,  acceptable 
not  less  to  those  friends  of  the  school  who  were  Quakers, 
than  to  more  militant  supporters.  The  monogram  on 
the  flag,  as  a  Negro  graduate  starting  on  a  mission  to 
Africa  once  said,  may  stand  for  Hampton  Normal  Insti- 
tute, or,  if  read  in  a  diff'erent  order  of  letters,  for  "  In  His 
Name." 

Co-education,  involving  the  normal  intimacy  of  young 
people,  appeared  from  the  beginning  to  Armstrong  not 
only  desirable,  but  a  humanizing  and  elevating  influ- 
ence, second  only  to  manual  work.  When  it  was  sug- 
gested that  the  Negro  character  was  both  passionate  and 
indolent,  involving  special  risks  in  co-education,  Arm- 
strong replied  :  "There  is  little  mischief  done  when  there 
is  no  time  for  it.  Activity  is  a  purifier.  ...  I  have 
little  fear  of  the  abuse  of  co-education  at  Hampton.  My 
boys  are  rung  up  at  5  o'clock  in  the  morning,  called  to 
military  parade  before  breakfast,  kept  busy  all  day  until 
8  P.M.,  always  under  military  discipline,  and  after  that 
hour  I  will  risk  all  the  harm  they  will  do  to  anybody." 

13s 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

There  was,  however,  in  these  days  of  rapid  growth  a 
more  compelHng  influence  on  the  character  of  students 
than  even  this  healthy  gospel  of  work.  It  was  the  con- 
tagion of  the  higher  moraUty  conveyed  by  the  magnetic 
words  and  conduct  of  Armstrong  himself.  Absent  as  he 
was  so  often  compelledto  be  on  his  mendicant  journeys 
to  the  North,  he  maintained  in  an  extraordinary  degree 
a  paternal  intimacy  with  his  young  wards,  in  which  aus- 
terity and  playfulness,  the  habits  of  a  soldier  and  the  piety 
of  a  missionary,  made  a  blending  of  teaching  and  behavior 
which  was  full  of  stimulation  and  surprise.  He  taught 
a  class  in  what  was  described  as  "Moral  Philosophy," 
but  it  was  in  effect  a  discussion,  by  question  and  answer, 
of  the  practical  conduct  of  life.  Seriousness  and  smiles, 
sternness  and  sympathy,  met  in  his  class-room,  and  his 
students  listened  both  in  fear  and  in  love,  wondering  what 
he  might  say  next.  "No  recitation,"  he  once  said,  in 
words  which  academic  teachers  might  well  take  to  heart, 
"is  complete  without  at  least  one  good  laugh."  "What's 
the  use  of  being  a  missionary  if  you  don't  get  some  fun  out 
of  it.?"  He  sat  daily  in  his  little  office,  like  the  Prince 
of  Montenegro  in  his  courtyard,  accessible  to  every  stu- 
dent, terrible  to  the  wrong-doer,  and  abounding  in  frater- 
nal sympathy  for  the  discouraged  and  sad. 

Most  of  all,  this  beneficent  paternahsm,  which  knit  the 
school  into  one  family  where  discipline  and  domesticity 
met,  was  illustrated  in  his  "Talks"  to  the  students 
when  gathered  for  Prayers  on  Sunday  evenings.  These 
"Talks,"  some  of  them  fortunately  preserved  in  the 
136 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

note-books  of  devoted  teachers,  cannot  be  described  as 
sermons  or  even  as  addresses,  for  they  were  unstudied, 
often  formless,  and  sometimes  nothing  more  than  a  rapid- 
fire  of  questions  followed  by  a  charge  of  exhortation  and 
advice.  Armstrong's  mind  was  volcanic,  like  the  moun- 
tains of  his  native  Islands,  with  periods  of  quiet  reflection 
succeeded  by  abrupt  explosions,  as  though  his  ideas  must 
burst  into  speech  or  burn  him  away.  His  Talks  were 
thus  for  the  moment  and  occasion,  and  as  one  reads  them 
he  must  reproduce  the  rush  of  thought,  and  see  before  him 
the  eager,  swarthy  faces  startled  out  of  their  sluggishness 
or  weariness  by  the  torrent  of  molten  speech. 

Here  is  the  way  in  which  such  a  Talk,  so  far  as  notes 
could  hold  it,  leaped  from  the  Principal's  surcharged 
mind  :  "Spend  your  life  in  doing  what  you  can  do  well. 
If  you  can  teach,  teach.  If  you  can't  teach,  but  can 
cook  well,  do  that.  If  a  man  can  black  boots  better  than 
anything  else,  what  had  he  better  do .''  'Black  boots.' 
Yes,  and  if  a  girl  can  make  an  excellent  nurse,  and  do 
that  better  than  anything  else,  what  had  she  better  do .'' 
*  Nurse.'  Yes,  she  can  do  great  good  that  way  in  taking 
care  of  the  sick  and  suffering.  Some  of  our  girls  have 
done  great  good  already  in  that  way.  Do  what  you 
can  do  well  and  people  will  respect  it  and  respect  you. 
That  is  what  the  world  wants  of  everyone.  It  is  a 
great  thing  in  life  to  find  out  what  you  can  do  well.  If 
a  man  can't  do  anything  well,  what's  the  matter  with 
him?  'Lazy.'  Yes,  that's  it.  A  lazy  man  can't  do  any- 
thing well  and  no  one  wants  him  *round.     God  didn't 

137 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

make  the  world  for  lazy  people.  .  .  .  Gojjut  from  here 
to  fight  against  sin.  Fight  the  devil.  Fight  against 
badness,  evil,  and  ignorance,  disease,  bad  cooking.  Help 
your  people  in  teaching,  in  care  of  the  sick,  in  improving 
land,  in  making  better  homes.  Do  what  you  can  do  well, 
and  do  it  as  well  as  you  can." 

Sometimes  he  would  speak  of  work  and  its  diffi- 
culties:  **Once  there  was  a  woodchuck.  .  .  .  Now, 
woodchucks  can't  climb  trees.  Well,  this  woodchuck 
was  chased  by  a  dog  and  came  to  a  tree.  He  knew  that 
if  he  could  get  up  this  tree  the  dog  could  not  catch  him. 
Now,  woodchucks  can't  climb  trees,  but  he  had  to,  so 
he  did!"  *  Sometimes  it  was  character  and  its  oppor- 
tunities of  which  he  spoke:  "Help  your  people  by 
giving  them  what  has  been  given  you.  Doing  what  can't 
be  done  is  the  glory  of  hving." 

Less  frequently,  but  without  restraint  or  disguise,  he 
would  talk  of  religion — its  simplicity,  its  genuineness, 
its  power.  The  discriminations  and  controversies  of  theol- 
ogy had  little  interest  for  his  practical  mind.  Reality, 
loyalty,  and  efficiency  were  his  tests  of  faith.  Among 
his  most  loyal  and  generous  friends  were  Quakers  from 
Philadelphia  and  Unitarians  from  Boston ;  and  when  the 
question  was  raised  by  cautious  observers  whether  these 
gifts  might  not  affect  injuriously  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
school,  whose  charter  had  determined  that  its  "teaching 
should  always  be  evangelical,"  Armstrong's  reply  was 
unequivocal.     "The  Institute  must  have  a  positive  char- 

*  Talbot,  op.  cit.,  pp.  190  fi". 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

acter.  It  has !  It  is  orthodox  and  that's  the  end  of  it, 
although  I  confess  that  I  never  told  the  school  it  was  so, 
and  I  don't  beheve  one  of  our  pupils  knows  what  'ortho- 
dox' means.  We  mean  to  teach  the  precepts  of  Jesus 
Christ,  accepting  them  as  inspired  and  as  recorded  in  the 
Bible."  When,  however,  he  passed  from  the  refinements 
of  theology  to  the  teaching  of  religion,  no  student  failed  to 
perceive  what  was  meant,  and  great  numbers  yielded  their 
hearts  to  the  persuasions  of  the  soldier-missionary.  "I 
loved,"  wrote  one  pupil,  **to  go  to  evening  prayers  to 
listen  to  his  talks  and  his  prayers  for  us  during  the  night 
and  for  the  work  he  was  doing.  General  Armstrong  al- 
ways spoke  very  fast,  but  when  he  prayed  it  was  slow  and 
deliberate.  I  did  always  enjoy  his  Sunday-evening  talks. 
I  never  once  grew  tired  of  hearing  him.  He  would  often 
say  to  those  who  were  sleepy:  'Sleep  on,  I  don't  mind; 
you  need  plenty  of  sleep.  I  will  talk  to  those  awake.' 
When  the  hour  came  to  dismiss  us,  he  would  rouse  us  by 
having  us  sing  a  very  lively  song." 

These  public  utterances  of  worship  were  not  without 
serious  effort  in  so  sensitive  and  sincere  a  mind. 
"True  worship,"  he  later  wrote,  "is  a  gentle,  sensitive, 
shrinking  emotion,  that  steals  softly  into  hearts  in 
quiet  moments,  often  in  response  to  some  beautiful 
scene ;  sometimes  it  comes  to  us  from  the  faithful,  true 
ones  near  us.  It  seems  to  shun  the  throng.  There 
is  a  religious  impression  often  in  a  magnificent  church, 
but  it  is  not  worship.  ...  I  dislike  public  prayer 
very  much,  because  one  is  so  self-conscious;  it  is  a  hard 

139 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

thing  to  rise  up  before  people  and  pray  to  God,  and  not 
to  them.  I  have  been  greatly  troubled  in  this  way,  and 
only  take  part  in  that  public  exercise  when  it  is  plainly 
in  the  line  of  duty  and  good  sense.  I  don't  mind  the 
students  here;  I  enjoy  it  with  them  alone,  but  there 
are  always  some  of  the  household  present  and  that  I 
hardly  fancy.  But  this  is  all  a  confession  of  weakness." 
Yet  at  times,  in  the  confidential  companionship  of  the 
school,  the  deeper  fountains  of  his  religious  feeling  were 
unsealed,  and  his  susceptible  wards,  so  easily  stirred  to 
emotional  agitation,  found  their  impulses  swept  into 
calmer  channels  of  moral  resolution.  "There  is  now  in  the 
school,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  1883,  "the  deepest  and 
most  intense  religious  feeling  I  ever  knew.  We  have  in- 
stead of  evening  prayers  daily  meetings  of  about  half  an 
hour,  in  which  the  students  in  quick  succession  rise  for  a 
few  words  of  experience  or  prayer.  In  all  the  five  hundred 
who  are  present  there  is  no  excitement.  It  is  like  a 
Quaker  meeting,  so  quiet  it  is.  All  speak  in  an  undertone. 
There  is  a  sense  of  the  Divine  presence  in  our  midst,  yet 
these  wild,  passionate  Negro  hearts,  stirred  to  their  depth, 
make  no  noise.  A  few  sobs  have  been  heard.  The  still- 
ness is  only  broken  by  earnest,  cheerful  verses  of  hymns 
sung  from  time  to  time.  The  most  touching  of  all  are  the 
few-months-ago-wild  Indians  who  speak  a  few  words 
in  broken  English  or  a  prayer  in  the  Dakota  language. 
.  .  .  •  Routine  work  and  study  go  on.  The  school  work 
is  done  in  better  temper  and  style  than  ever." 

Thus  these  formative  years  at  Hampton  were  in  many 
140 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

aspects  a  golden  age  of  promise  and  growth.  The  school 
had  not  become  too  large  for  personal  intimacies,  and  the 
staff  of  teachers  had  been  drawn  together  by  a  singular 
bond  of  happy  self-sacrifice.  The  work,  though  under  a 
constant  fire  of  criticism  both  from  many  Southern 
whites  who  desired  no  education  for  the  blacks,  and 
many  Negroes  who  misunderstood  the  Hampton  plan 
and  desired  an  education  parallel  with  that  of  the  North- 
ern colleges,  had  grown  strong  enough  to  resist  both  of 
these  attacks  and  to  defend  itself  by  its  results.  More 
than  all,  the  mind  and  will  of  the  Founder  touched  every 
detail  of  labor  and  life,  as  though  they  were  keys  of  an 
instrument  on  which  he  freely  and  firmly  played.  It 
was  an  epoch  of  integral  and  united  experience  in  which 
all  concerned  felt  a  common  exhilaration.  There  could 
even  be  scenes  of  hilarious  romping,  when  teachers  and 
Principal  joined  with  his  little  girls  in  boisterous  play 
or  a  merry  game,  or  a  "  Presbyterian  war-dance,"  relaxing 
the  tension  of  life  and  duty.  Those  who  can  still  remem- 
ber the  spirit  of  these  early  days  think  of  them  as  one 
thinks  of  the  period  of  adolescence  in  a  boy  or  girl,  with 
its  peculiar  qualities  never  again  to  be  attained,  of  bud- 
ding promise  and  ripening  charm. 

The  Annual  Report  of  1878  indicates  with  precision 
this  transition  of  the  school  from  an  experiment  to  an 
institution.  "On  the  foundation  thus  laid,"  wrote  Arm- 
strong of  this  first  decade,  "the  benevolent  of  the  North 
have  in  ten  years  expended  for  permanent  improve- 
ments   $150,000  and    are    giving    for   current   expenses 

141 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

an  average  of  $24,000  yearly.  .  .  .  The  Trustees  of  the 
Peabody  Fund  have  given  annual  appropriations,  since 
the  school  opened,  amounting  in  the  ten  years  to  $6300. 
.  .  .  The  annual  running  expenses  of  the  institution 
are  now  ['78]  estimated  at  $34,000.  .  .  .  For  one-half 
of  our  income  there  is  no  guarantee  whatever.  Yet  sup- 
port is  morally  certain  from  the  confidence  of  friends 
both  North  and  South.  There  is,  however,  need  of 
an  endowment  fund  of  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  the  interest  of  which  would  lessen  the  severe  and, 
in  more  ways  than  one,  costly  labor  of  collecting  income, 
give  the  school  a  life  of  its  own  independent  of  any  one 
man's  life  or  powers,  and  better  secure  it  against  exigencies. 
.  .  .  For  the  past  ten  years,  a  great  part  of  our  resources 
has  gone  into  building  and  outfit.  This  work  is  nearly 
done.  The  school  is  substantially  built  up,  out  of  debt, 
and  in  good  working  order..  The  next  thing  is  a  solid 
financial  basis. 

"The  problem  of  the  school,  industrially  is  (i)  To 
make  labor  as  instructive  as  possible;  (2)  To  turn  it 
to  the  best  account.  Labor  schools  are  expensive.  We 
do  not  expect  our  industries  as  a  whole  to  pay.  They 
are  primarily  educational,  yet  they  have  under  the  cir- 
cumstances done  well  this  year,  and  in  time  some  of  them 
will,  I  think,  be  remunerative ;  but  that  is  not  the  point. 
...  A  large  majority  of  our  non-graduates  are  doing 
good  work  as  teachers.  .  .  .  Not  less  than  ninety  per 
cent  of  our  graduates  have  taught  school.  Those  who  do 
not  teach  are  generally  working  for  themselves  or  others. 
142 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

f  know  of  but  few  worthless  ones.  I  have  observed  in 
many  a  moral  growth  after  graduation,  the  reaction  of 
right  life  upon  character.  That  some  will  degenerate, 
there  can  be  no  doubt ;  but  after  leaving  here  the  general 
movement  is  upward.  .  ,  .  They  generally  buy  land  and 
have  frequent  use  for  their  agricultural  training.  Few 
take  up  farming  exclusively,  as  teaching  pays  better.  .  .  . 
Thorough  primary  teachers  are  the  present  pressing  need 
of  the  South.  .  .  . 

"The  present  condition  of  the  colored  people  is  more 
favorable  for  their  improvement  than  at  any  previous 
time.  All  their  schooling  in  the  past  decade  has  done 
less  for  the  Negroes  than  the  lessons  of  experience 
which  had  been  in  some  ways  severe.  They  are  now 
less  influenced  by  sentiment  and  more  by  reflection. 
They  seek  education  less  universally  but  with  a  better 
idea  of  what  it  is.  .  .  .  'Salvation  by  hard  work'  is  an 
understood  thing.  The  necessity  and  the  moral  obliga-^ 
tion  to  aid  in  their  elevation  are  more  appreciated  than 
ever  before  in  the  South.  The  freedmen  are  working  into 
more  settled  and  pleasant  relations  with  their  neighbors. 
Although  rum,  demagogues,  and  other  evil  influences, 
within  and  without,  are  pushing  them  down,  yet  I  believe, 
with  long  continued  and  wise  effort,  and  by  infinite  pa- 
tience and  care,  the  fate  of  the  Negro,  the  romance  of 
American  history,  may  become  a  bright  record.  .  .  .  The 
friends  of  this  institution  and  of  Negro  progress  have 
reason,  from  its  record  of  the  past  ten  years,  and  from  the 
slow,   but   sure   and   steady   forward   movement   in   the 

143 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Southern  States,  to  thank  God  and  take  courage  for  the 
future." 

One  event  only  occurred  during  this  period  to  overcloud 
the  sunshine.  Mrs.  Armstrong's  health,  which  had  never 
been  robust,  showed  marks  of  continuous  decline,  and 
early  in  1878  her  husband  took  her  further  South,  utiliz- 
ing the  opportunity  to  observe  conditions  among  less 
educated  Negroes.  "The  leading  plantation-hands," 
he  wrote,  "are  all  on  their  feet.  It  seems  possible  for  any 
resolute  careful  Negro  to  obtain  a  foothold  somewhere." 
No  gain,  however,  could  be  observed  in  the  condition  of 
his  wife,  and,  despairing  of  restoration,  Mrs.  Armstrong 
was  conveyed  to  her  home  in  Stockbridge,  where,  while 
her  husband  was  called  away  on  one  of  his  frequent  and 
imperative  journeys,  she  died,  on  November  10,  1878. 
"His  brown  hair,"  Miss  Ludlow  writes,  "turned  gray,  and 
the  lines  on  his  face  deepened,"  and  though  there  was 
much  happiness  for  him  still  to  experience,  and  the  com- 
panionship of  his  two  little  girls,  of  six  and  eight  years, 
was  to  him  a  daily  solace  and  refreshment,  his  face  never 
lost  those  deep  furrows,  or  his  eyes  that  singularly  search- 
ing gaze,  which  revealed  an  inner  life  of  solitude  and 
tragedy. 


[44 


CHAPTER  SIX 

THE    COMING    OF    THE    INDIANS    (1878) 

THE  pleasant  idyl  of  missionary  service  thus  prosperously 
begun  was  abruptly  interrupted  by  an  event  which,  how- 
ever inevitable  it  appeared,  seemed  to  many  of  the 
friends,  and  even  of  the  Trustees  of  Hampton  Institute, 
unpropitious,  if  not  alarming.  Among  the  many  evil 
consequences  of  the  Civil  War  there  had  survived  a  spirit 
of  restlessness  and  lawlessness  along  the  borders  of  the 
country  which  prompted  attacks  upon  its  Indian  wards. 
Tribes  which  had  once  roamed  freely  found  themselves 
now  restrained  in  limited,  even  though  extensive,  reserva- 
tions, and  chafed  under  this  restriction  of  their  conduct 
of  life.  Reservations,  on  the  other  hand,  which  a  paternal 
Government  had  provided,  believing  them  to  be  hope- 
lessly sterile,  proved  rich  in  soil  or  mines,  and  tempted 
the  neighboring  whites  to  dispossess  the  native  owners. 
In  1842  the  Superintendent  of  Indian  Affairs  had  written  : 
**If  we  draw  a  line  running  North  and  South,  so  as  to 
cross  the  Missouri  about  the  mouth  of  the  Vermilion 
River,  we  shall  designate  the  limits  beyond  which  civilized 
men  are  never  likely  to  settle.  At  this  point  the  Creator 
seems  to  have  said  to  the  tides  of  emigration  that  are 
annually  rolling  to  the  West :  'Thus   far  shalt  thou  go 

14s 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  no  farther/  .  .  .  The  utter  destitution  of  timber, 
the  sterility  of  sandy  soil,  together  with  the  coldness  and 
dryness  of  the  climate,  furnish  obstacles  which  not  even 
Yankee  enterprise  is  likely  to  brave.  A  beneficent  Creator 
seems  to  have  intended  this  dreary  region  as  an  asylum 
for  the  Indians."  * 

This  proposed  line,  however,  between  a  fertility  fit  for 
whites  and  a  sterility  appropriate  as  an  asylum  for 
Indians,  ran  through  what  later  became  Dakota,  Ne- 
braska, Kansas,  the  Indian  Territory,  and  Texas ;  and 
left  as  a  region  which  "not  even  Yankee  enterprise 
could  brave,"  the  vast  domain  of  Idaho,  Colorado, 
and  New  Mexico,  not  to  speak  of  the  Pacific  States. 
In  short,  a  beneficent  Creator,  under  this  scheme  of 
exile,  would  have  endowed  the  Indians,  not  with  an 
asylum,  but  with  an  empire;  and  an  era  of  invasion, 
broken  faith,  and  bloodshed  ensued.  "The  only  good 
Indian  is  a  dead  Indian,"  became  the  familiar  maxim  of 
frontier  communities,  and  opportunities  to  make  Indians 
good  by  killing  them  were  eagerly  seized.  Retaliation, 
with  all  the  horrors  of  Indian  warfare,  followed,  until,  in 
1875,  the  resistance  of  some  of  the  most  aggressive  tribes 
was  broken  by  the  force  of  the  regular  army,  and  such  of 
the  warriors  of  the  Kiowas,  Comanches,  Cheyennes,  and 
Arapahoes  as  had  not  been  killed  were  imprisoned  at 
Fort  Sill  in  the  Indian  Territory.  From  this  point 
further  removal  was  advised,  both  for  security  from 
counter-attack  and  as  a  solemn  warning  to  the  tribesmen 

*  Helen  H.  Jackson,  "A  Century  of  Dishonor,"  1886,  p.  67. 
146 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

of  the  prisoners;  and  seventy-five  chiefs  and  fighting 
men,  each  of  whom,  it  was  said,  had  killed  more  than  one 
white  man  in  battle,  were  deported  across  the  continent, 
each  man  with  his  leg  fastened  by  chains  to  a  log,  and 
confined  in  Fort  Marion  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida.  The 
vastness  of  the  country  traversed,  with  its  bewildering 
strangeness  of  railroads  and  cities,  the  homesickness  which 
is  so  pathetic  a  malady  among  these  free  plainsmen, 
and  the  belief  on  their  part  that  they  were  on  their 
way  to  some  cruel  form  of  death,  all  made  the  long 
journey  a  tragedy.  One  man  leaped  from  the  moving 
train  and  was  shot  by  the  guard ;  another  committed 
suicide  with  a  penknife ;  and  all  joined  in  their  grim 
death-chants,  fortifying  their  wills  against  the  tortures 
which  they  believed  themselves  about  to  endure.  They 
were  clad  in  blankets  and  wore  great  brass  rings  in 
their  ears.  Not  one  of  them  could  speak  or  understand 
English. 

For  three  years  these  wild  nomads  were  incarcerated 
within  the  stone  walls  of  Fort  Marion,  but  were  fortu- 
nately assigned  to  the  care  of  a  sagacious  army  officer, 
Captain  R.  H.  Pratt,  who  had  been  one  of  their  captors 
but  had  become  trusted  by  them  as  a  friend.  He  applied 
to  these  imprisoned  wards  the  same  gospel  of  work 
which  Armstrong  had  found  to  be  the  way  of  salvation  for 
the  freedmen ;  securing  the  co-operation  of  residents  in  St, 
Augustine,  and  establishing  classes  in  the  rudiments  of 
education,  and  in  the  native  arts  and  handiwork.  The 
results  were  astonishing.    At  the  end  of  three  years  these 

147 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

men,  who  had  arrived  as  savages,  confronting  their 
visitors  with  fierce  faces  and  hostile  scowls,  had  dis- 
carded their  blankets,  were  clothed  in  uniforms,  had  sub- 
mitted themselves  to  military  drill,  were  laboriously 
learning  to  read  and  write,  and  might  even  be  seen  stand- 
ing on  guard  at  the  entrance  of  the  Fort  to  prevent  the 
escape  of  their  own  companions.  In  1878  the  United 
States  Government  had  become  satisfied  that  these 
prisoners  were  no  longer  dangerous,  and  the  choice  was 
set  before  the  younger  men  of  returning  to  their  homes 
or  continuing  their  education  in  the  East.  Twenty- 
two  accepted  the  alternative  of  following  further  "the 
white  man's  road,"  and  fifteen,  chiefly  Kiowas  and 
Cheyennes,  assigned  as  students,  with  forty-seven  older 
men  on  their  way  to  the  reservations,  arrived  by  steamer, 
on  April  18,  1878,  about  midnight,  at  Hampton. 

It  was  an  invasion  which  not  unreasonably  excited 
much  apprehension.  Friends  of  the  Indian  intimated 
that  the  noble  Red  Man  would  be  degraded  by  association 
with  the  Negro.  Friends  of  the  Negro,  on  the  other  hand, 
dreaded  the  conversion  of  Hampton  Institute  into  a 
reformatory  for  Indian  criminals.  Some  sceptics  believed 
that  the  two  races  would  fight  with  each  other;  others 
feared  that  they  would  fall  in  love  with  each  other. 
The  adviser  on  whom  Armstrong  most  confidently  leaned. 
General  Marshall,  shared  these  dreary  anticipations.  "I 
was  not  in  favor  of  the  plan,"  he  writes,  "I  had  little  faith 
in  the  capacity  of  the  red  man  for  civilization,  and  felt 
that  General  Armstrong  had  already  as  much  on  his 
148 


GROUP  OF   INDIANS  ON  ARRIVAL  AT   HAMPTON 


SAME   CJROIJP   SOME   MONTHS   LATER 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

hands  as  he  could  well  carry.     I  think  the  majority  of 
the  Trustees  were  of  the  same  opinion," 

The  boldness  of  the  new  venture,  however,  only  quick- 
ened Armstrong's  missionary  impulses.  The  Hampton 
peninsula  had  been  from  the  beginnings  of  history  a 
resort  of  the  aboriginal  American  tribes.  On  almost 
the  precise  spot  where  the  school  was  established  there 
stood,  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  an  Indian 
village  called  Kecoughtan,  where,  according  to  early 
historians,  one  thousand  members  of  that  tribe  dwelt 
in  three  hundred  wigwams.  At  Jamestown,  near  the 
neck  of  the  peninsula,  Pocahontas  had  been  baptized 
and  married ;  and  near  Yorktown,  where  Pocahontas 
saved  John  Smith's  life,  a  great  chimney  still  stands 
which,  according  to  tradition,  is  a  relic  of  the  house 
built  for  Powhatan  by  John  Smith,  to  meet  that 
Indian  chief's  requisite  of  a  "house,  a  grindstone,  fifty 
swords,  some  guns,  a  cock  and  hen,  with  much  copper 
and  many  beads."  *  These  local  associations  conspired 
with  his  temperamental  audacity  to  determine  Arm- 
strong's decision.  "Our  colored  students,"  he  said,  in 
answer  to  many  criticisms,  "selected  as  they  are  from  a 
wide  range,  furnish  the  best  practical  conditions  for 
building  up  wild  Indians  in  ideas  of  decency  and  manhood. 
Our  class  of  Negro  youths  form  a  current  of  influences 
which  bears  the  red  children  along.  The  latter  are  like 
raw  recruits  in  an  old  regiment.  On  the  other  hand,  this 
new  Indian  work  will  give  fresh  life  and  force  to  the  school. 

*  J.  E.  Davis,  "  Round  About  Jamestown,"  1907,  pp.  30,  97. 

149 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

It  is  better  for  the  Negroes  with  than  without  Indians. 
The  Negro  will  be  richer  and  stronger  for  doing  a  good 
part  for  the  Indian,  and  the  exchange  of  ideas  is  a  better 
educator  as  it  is  a  greater  power  for  good." 

The  arrival  of  these  new  students  was  a  dramatic  scene. 
Disembarking  in  the  middle  of  the  night  from  the 
steamer  which  had  brought  them  from  Florida,  they 
made  what  had  the  appearance  of  a  raid  of  red  men  on  a 
sleeping  village.  In  the  Reminiscences  of  Miss  Ludlow, 
whose  devoted  service  of  the  school  spans  nearly  the 
whole  of  this  period  of  forty  years,  the  scene  is  graphi- 
cally described.  "The  school  force  quickly  rallied  to 
receive  them,  not  with  shot,  powder,  and  ball,  but  with 
welcome  and  hot  coffee.  Two  large  recitation  rooms  were 
given  up  to  them,  and  the  next  day  saw  the  novel  sight 
of  Cheyennes  and  Comanches  in  Uncle  Sam's  uniform 
roaming  under  the  trees  and  enjoying  a  day  of  rest  after 
the  discomforts  of  their  sea  voyage.  .  .  .  On  the  follow- 
ing evening  the  Chapel  of  the  Institute  witnessed  an 
unprecedented  gathering  of  three  races ;  and  the  singing, 
of  the  white  man's  hymns  :  'Today  the  Savior  calls'  and 
*I  need  Thee  every  hour'  was  followed,  first  by  Negro 
'Spirituals,'  and  then  by  a  startling  contribution  of  the 
Cheyennes  in  a  deep  booming  bass,  and  by  the  shrill 
war-song  of  the  Kiowas,  ending  in  yells  like  the  bark 
of  hundreds  of  coyotes." 

Captain  Pratt,  at  once  the  friend  and  the  disciplina- 
rian of  the  new-comers,  then  described  their  journey 
and  their  hopes.  "The  chiefs,"  he  said,  "are  going 
ISO 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

back  to  their  people.  They  are  too  old  to  go  to  school, 
and  they  cannot  talk  English  as  well  as  the  young 
men.  But  they  have  learned  some  good  things  and 
want  to  tell  their  people.  I  will  ask  some  of  them  to 
speak  to  you.  I  am  not  a  very  good  interpreter,  but  I 
will  do  the  best  I  can.  .  .  .  Minimic  says  that  today 
he  has  a  talk  he  will  give  to  you.  Three  years  ago  he 
went  'way  down  South  and  has  been  there  till  now.  He 
says  that  Washington  has  given  to  me  a  road  to  give  to 
them  and  they  have  seized  upon  it.  God  has  made  all 
their  hearts  very  big.  Their  heads  have  got  bigger  and 
their  ears  are  open.  Now  the  skins  of  the  people  he 
meets  here  and  their  own  people  are  just  alike — colored. 
He  says  these  young  men  all  say  to  you  :  'How  d'ye  do  ?' 
All  feel  good.  They  are  glad.  God  has  given  them  re- 
lease. They  are  going  home,  and  they  are  very  glad. 
He  says  he  is  an  old  man,  and  says  to  all  the  old  people 
here  that  they  are  his  friends.     Goodbye." 

Captain  Pratt  then  called  upon  the  young  men  to  come 
forward  and  speak.  The  first  to  respond  was  a  pleasant- 
faced  Cheyenne,  introduced  as  *'  Matches,"  one  of  seven 
of  his  tribe  assigned  first  to  Hampton  and  later  to  Bishop 
Whipple's  school  in  Minnesota.  He  spoke  in  broken 
English  as  follows :  "  I  go  school — ^way  off.  I  come  a 
school  a  three  days — way  off — sea.  I  go  school  here — I 
like  here.  Come  last  night,  half-past  one.  Came  not 
here — other  house — I  went  school — Miss  Mather.  I 
like  here — all  these  girls — good  girls" — a  conclusion 
which  was  greeted  with   much   applause.     It  had   been 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Captain  Pratt's  intention  to  proceed  with  the  older 
Indians  to  Fort  Sill,  but  he  was  met  by  orders  detaching 
him  from  the  care  of  his  wards  and  was  compelled  to  part 
from  them  without  delay.  The  parting  surprised  those 
who  had  assumed  the  Indian  nature  to  be  stoical  and 
reserved.  "Each  man  put  his  arms  round  the  Captain's 
neck,  and  wept  like  a  child."  * 

Thus  began  this  extraordinary  experiment,  of  which 
the  old  chief,  "Lone  Wolf,"  on  the  first  evening,  said: 
"We  have  started  on  God's  road  now,  because  God's 
road  is  the  same  for  the  red  man  as  for  the  white  man." 
As  with  the  Negro  students,  the  compulsion 'of  work  pre- 
cluded those  evils  which  had  been  so  generally  anticipated. 
"They  like  and  understand  English  quite  well,"  General 
Armstrong  was  soon  able  to  report,  "but  speak  it  with 
difficulty;  they  use  the  hoe  and  spade  energetically, 
and  show  mechanical  skill,  and  in  everything  willingness 
and  quickness.  They  compare  in  plain  work  with  the 
best  of  our  students.  They  seem  to  enjoy  their  colored 
associates.  No  point  of  friction  has  been  discovered, 
though  they  are  said  to  have  quick  tempers."  One 
young  man,  "Kobe,"  wrote  to  his  home :  "I  pray  every 
day  and  hoe  onions."  "Bear's  Heart,"  on  his  return 
home,  called  his  people  together  and  told  them  :  "The 
Bible  goes  right  along  with  work."  "Roman  Nose" 
writes  to  his  father  that  he  "has  put  aside  his  blanket, 
wears  white  man's  clothes,  and  goes  to  work  regularly." 
In  short,  the  prophecy  made  by  Captain  Pratt  in  his  first 

*  Folsom  Mss.,  pp.  lo  fF. 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

words  at  Hampton  was  realized  :  "There  will  be  no  fric- 
tion between  the  races  here.  These  Indians  have  come 
to  work." 

It  was  anticipated  that  the  Indian  nature,  accustomed 
to  unrestrained  liberty,  could  not  submit  itself  to  the 
established  discipUne  of  the  school.  Smoking,  for  ex- 
ample, was  prohibited,  and  the  prohibition  invaded  their 
habits  and  traditions.  When,  however,  the  purpose  of  the 
rule  was  explained,  as  their  friend.  Miss  Folsom,  records  : 
"They  stood  in  solemn  silence  for  a  while.  Then  one, 
with  a  quick  gesture,  as  of  a  man  striking  his  pipe  from 
his  mouth,  signified  his  resolve  to  obey.  He  was  followed 
by  each  of  the  others  in  turn,  though  it  took  the  last 
one  some  time  to  make  up  his  mind  to  yield."  Another 
teacher,  who  at  the  coming  of  the  Indians  was  one  of  the 
youngest  of  the  staff  and  soon  became  one  of  its  most 
discerning  and  gracious  leaders,  had  an  accidental 
experience  which  she  quickly  converted  into  a  form  of 
discipline.  Entering  a  class-room  where  a  little  Quaker 
lady  was  instructing  these  swarthy  warriors,  the  new 
teacher  heard  her  gentle  predecessor  say  to  "Soaring 
Eagle"  at  the  blackboard  :  "I  would  ask  thee  to  put  down 
thy  chalk  and  take  thy  seat."  The  man,  about  thirty 
years  of  age,  made  no  movement,  though  the  mild  request 
was  repeated ;  but  the  young  girl  spoke  more  sharply. 
"Put  down  your  chalk  and  take  your  seat,"  she  said,  with 
a  gesture  of  command.  Quite  without  intention  her  raised 
arm  struck  his  elbow,  the  chalk  flew  into  the  air,  and 
the  savage  subsided  in  his  place  as  though  he  had  found 

153 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

a  master.  Another  teacher  reported  that  a  powerful 
man,  "Kobe,"  made  no  reply  when  she  addressed  him. 
In  the  evening,  however,  he  came  to  her  penitently,  and 
said:  "Today  you  said  'Kobe,'  and  I  did  not  say  any- 
thing. I  did  not  feel  good.  By  and  by  I  think  maybe 
you  feel  bad  because  I  did  not  speak — maybe  think 
I  don't  like;   so  I  came  to  tell  you  I  am  sorry." 

Before  many  weeks  of  the  new  undertaking  had  passed, 
the  indefatigable  Armstrong  called  on  the  Secretary  of 
the  Interior  at  Washington,  then — fortunately  for  the 
country  and  the  Indian — Hon.  Carl  Schurz,  and  sug- 
gested that  the  experiment  of  Indian  training  could  not 
be  regarded  as  complete  until  the  Hampton  system  of  co- 
education was  accepted,  and  Indian  girls  as  well  as  Indian 
boys  were  received.  "I  urged,"  said  General  Armstrong, 
"that  there  is  no  civilization  without  educated  women, 
and  begged  the  Secretary  to  let  us  try.  The  condition  of 
women,  I  said,  is  the  gauge  of  civilization.  The  hand  of 
Providence  is  in  this  work,  naturally  yet  curiously  thrust 
upon  us."  This  proposition,  which  appeared  to  many 
officials  of  the  Indian  Department  even  more  revolutionary 
and  quixotic  than  the  making  of  useful  citizens  out  of 
converted  warriors,  was  adopted  by  Schurz  ;  and  Captain 
Pratt,  with  his  wife,  was  sent  to  Dakota,  returning  in 
November  1878  with  forty  boys  and  nine  girls  between 
fourteen  and  twenty  years  of  age,  "chiefly  Sioux,"  for  each 
of  whom  the  United  States  was  to  appropriate  annually 
$167  as  the  cost  of  their  board  and  clothing.  Meantime 
a  building  for  Indian  boys,  "The  Wigwam,"  was  hastily 

154 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

constructed,  a  special  division  of  Virginia  Hall  was  pre- 
pared for  Indian  girls,  and  friends  of  the  new  under- 
taking were  rallied  to  its  financial  support.  On  November 
5th  the  young  strangers  arrived,  "a  wild-looking  set, 
most  of  them  in  full  Indian  costume,  blanket,  leggings, 
and  moccasins,  with  dishevelled  locks  hanging  half-way 
down  to  their  knees,  or  braided  with  strips  of  red  flannel 
down  each  side  of  their  faces,  yet  with  an  expression  of 
intelHgent  and  earnest  desire  to  learn  the  white  man's 
way.    * 

They  had  been  gathered  from  six  agencies  along 
the  Missouri  River,  from  Fort  Berthold  in  the  ex- 
treme north  of  Dakota  to  Yankton  in  the  south,  had 
travelled,  first  by  a  stern-paddle  boat  down  the  half- 
frozen  river,  and  thence  across  the  continent  by  rail. 
"If,"  reports  their  teacher,  "the  first  mild  advent  of  a 
few  Indian  young  men  in  military  array  struck  terror  to 
the  hearts  of  their  colored  brethren,  how  much  more  the 
second  raid  of  forty  bronzed,  dishevelled,  long-haired 
wild  men  from  the  West !  Long  rides  across  the  plains 
in  the  snow,  a  long  trip  on  the  freezing  river,  and  five 
days  on  the  train  sitting  up  all  night,  had  added  cinders, 
smoke,  and  dust  to  the  gay  Indian  costumes ;  and  excite- 
ment, weariness,  and  homesickness  had  made  their  marks. 
It  was  little  wonder  that  the  Negro  students  recalled 
with  dismay  the  terrible  tales  they  had  heard  of  the  blood- 
thirsty Indians."  The  clipping  of  the  long  braids  worn  by 
the  boys  was  a  tragedy,  and  the  stifF-visored  military  cap 

'  *'  Twenty-two  Years'  Work  of  Hampton  Institute,"  1893,  pp.  314  ff. 

^55 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  unyielding  shoes  of  the  school  were  forms  of  torture. 
The  girls  protested  against  substituting  hats  for  shawls 
as  head-gear,  and  hid  the  finery  which  kindly  teachers 
had  prepared ;  while  the  merits  of  moccasins  became  so 
recognized  that  white  teachers,  colored  students,  and 
even  the  boys  of  the  neighboring  town  of  Hampton, 
followed  instead  of  correcting  the  Indian  fashion. 

Yet  the  adjustment  of  these  susceptible  and  childlike 
natures  to  their  new  world  was  without  serious  difficulty. 
Negro  students  accepted  Indians  as  school-mates,  and 
taught  them  the  art  of  sleeping  on  a  bed  instead  of  in  a 
blanket  on  the  floor.  Christian  pastors  of  the  neighbor- 
hood welcomed  the  opportunity  for  new  missionary  ser- 
vice; and  of  one  earnest  preacher,  a  stoical  Indian 
remarked  :  "Mr.  Gravatt,  good  man,  good  preacher — 
he  preach  so  hard,  knock  down  Bible."  The  observant 
teachers  of  Hampton  quickly  recognized  the  original 
qualities  of  Indian  art  and  encouraged  their  pupils  in 
the  making  of  pottery  and  in  those  forms  of  decoration 
which  had  been  taught  them  in  their  tribal  life.  The 
buffalo  hunt,  with  stiff-legged  horses  and  feather-be- 
decked riders,  was  reproduced  in  clay  and  in  painting, 
and  perpetuated  a  type  of  art  which,  as  the  sophistica- 
tion of  the  aborigines  has  proceeded,  has  become  almost 
extinct.  "The  Negro,"  General  Armstrong  remarked, 
"has  the  only  American  music;  the  Indian  has  the  only 
American  art." 

In  the  Message  of  President  Hayes  to  Congress  of 
December  1878,  he  calls  attention  to  the  novel  enterprise 
156 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

at  Hampton.  "I  agree,"  he  says,  "with  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  that  the  result  of  this  interesting  experi- 
ment, if  favorable,  may  be  destined  to  become  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  advancement  of  civiHzation  among 
the  Indians."  This  reaction  upon  Hfe  at  the  reservations 
was  not  long  delayed.  In  1880  the  Superintendent  of 
Indian  Schools  reported  that  Hampton  Institute  "fur- 
nished most  of  the  shoes,  harnesses,  tin-ware,  and  parts  of 
wagons  used  at  many  of  the  Agencies.  It  is  interesting 
to  remember  that  these  are  made  by  boys  who  but  a  few 
years  ago  were  as  wild  as  the  chickens  on  the  prairie." 
As  this  news  drifted  Westward,  and  it  was  learned  that 
the  boys  and  girls  trusted  to  strangers  in  the  East  were 
happy  in  their  new  life,  the  heads  of  families,  instead  of 
prohibiting  their  children  from  this  great  adventure, 
pressed  their  requests,  until,  as  Captain  Pratt  remarked, 
he  "could  have  brought  a  thousand."  It  became  the 
judicious  practice  of  the  school  to  select  for  visitation 
those  reservations  where  promising  pupils  had  been 
already  found,  and  this  selective  process  secured  recruits 
both  of  physical  and  of  mental  fitness. 

A  typical  letter  from  a  father  at  Fort  Berthold  con- 
cerning his  son  describes  the  situation  :  "I  hear  how  my 
son  is  doing,  but  it  is  hard  to  bear  not  to  see  my  son 
for  so  long  a  time,  I  see  that  the  white  men  who  came 
here  are  wise,  so  I  sent  my  son  away  that  he  may  learn 
to  be  like  them.  So  my  son  is  away  off  and  I  am 
here  alone,  but  I  did  it.  My  son  helped  me  to  cut 
wood  and  hay  and  by  it  we  lived  well,   so  I  sent  my 

157 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

son  away  to  learn  more  work  so  that  he  can  buy  wagons 
and  stoves  and  we  will  live  well.  There  is  nothing 
now  for  Indian  to  live  on,  so  I  want  my  son  to  be  a 
white  man  and  sent  him  away.  It  is  all  right.  My 
son  is  now  in  the  midst  of  good  works  and  my  heart  is 
glad.  I  see  his  picture  when  he  has  on  white  man's 
clothes  which  contain  many  places  to  put  money  in 
pockets,  and  I  know  that  you  hold  my  son  well  for  me. 
I  know  God  did  the  work.     God  did  it  for  us." 

Armstrong  himself  visited  the  reservations  in  1882, 
meeting  Generals  Terry,  Miles,  and  Crook,  who  were  not 
only  famous  as  Indian  fighters  but  outspoken  in  advocacy 
of  Indian  education.  "To  fight  the  Indian,"  wrote 
Armstrong  from  Fort  Keogh,  "is  to  learn  his  manly  and 
heroic  qualities."  On  returning  to  Hampton  the  Principal 
expressed  his  conclusions  as  follows:  "If  the  Indian 
question  were  taken  out  of  politics  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  competent  men  with  full  discretion,  there  would 
in  ten  years  be  very  few  dependent  on  the  Government. 
.  .  .  General  Terry  declares  the  solution  of  the  Indian 
question  to  be  one  word  *  cows.'  .  .  .  Recent  visits  to 
the  country  have  impressed  me  with  the  favoring  condi- 
tions there  in  extensive  grazing  lands.  ...  I  believe 
that  army  officers  are  better  fitted  than  any  others  to 
settle  the  Indian  question;  Captain  Pratt  is  indirectly 
doing  more  than  any  two  regiments  for  the  pacification  of 
the  Indians." 

Again  in  1888  Armstrong  headed  a  search-party  for 
new  students,  and  writes  from  the  Devil's  Lake 
158 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Agency  in  Dakota:  *'A  three  hours'  drive  over  this 
reservation  was  one  of  my  most  encouraging  and  in- 
spiring experiences  of  Indian  Hfe  and  progress.  In  every 
direction,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  except  where  the 
ground  was  broken  and  wooded,  were  dotted  log  houses, 
beside  each  one  a  tipi  or  conical  tent  of  smoke-browned 
cotton  cloth,  graceful  and  picturesque,  where  in  summer 
the  Indians  cook  and  sometimes  live.  ...  Of  the 
thousand  people,  two  hundred  and  ten  are  farmers, 
heads  of  families,  scattered  over  the  reserve  just  as  white 
men  would  be  settled,  cultivating  from  one  to  one  hun- 
dred acres  apiece.  .  .  .  The  climax  of  my  experience 
was  in  seeing  a  McCormick  self-binder  and  reaper  driven 
with  two  horses  by  an  Indian  farmer  round  splendid  fields 
of  yellow  grain.  .  .  .  The  redeemed  and  regenerate 
Indian,  guiding  the  complicated,  brainy  machine — one 
of  forty  on  the  reservation — .  .  .  seemed  fairly  established 
in  manhood.  .  .  .  All  I  could  say  was,  *This  is  the  end.' 
.  .  .  No  honest  man  can  touch  Indian  affairs  at  any 
point  without  at  first  a  sense  of  humiliation.  Yet  every 
day  sees  a  change  in  development  rather  than  in  decay. 
...  I  believe  that  there  is  no  body  of  people  in  this 
country  who  have  improved  more  rapidly  in  the  last 
ten  years  than  have  the  Indians.  .  .  .  The  very  dif- 
ficulties are  inspiring  and  challenge  the  best  that  is 
in  us." 

Still  again,  in  1889,  the  untiring  Armstrong  set  out 
for  the  West,  visiting  six  reservations  and  attending  a 
great  council  of  chiefs  called  to  consider  the  sale  of  lands. 

159 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

"I  found,"  he  writes,  "the  thirty  Hampton  returned 
students  at  Standing  Rock  doing  well  as  a  rule ;  not  one 
had  gone  back  to  barbarism."  In  the  same  year  he 
examined  the  case  of  the  Arizona  Apaches,  taken  captive 
after  hard  fighting  and  confined  as  prisoners  of  war  to 
the  number  of  three  hundred  and  seventy  in  Alabama. 
"The  Apaches  now  at  Mount  Vernon,"  he  says,  "have 
shown  during  their  two  years  of  imprisonment  that  they 
need  only  a  fair  chance  to  prove  that  they  are  ready  to 
accept  civilization,  and  that  this  chance  could  be  given 
them  while  they  are  still  under  army  control.  If  wisely 
and  carefully  settled  in  permanent  homes  they  will  be 
easily  civiHzed.  It  is  a  case  in  which  the  pressure  of 
public  sentiment  should  be  brought  to  bear  on  those  who 
have  the  power  to  see  that  it  is  done." 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  early  procedure  of  Hampton 
Institute  in  fulfilling  this  new  responsibility,  and  the 
general  result  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  the  verdict  of 
Carl  Schurz  who,  as  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  had  been 
practically  in  control  of  this  education  of  Indians  by 
migration  to  the  East.  "My  personal  interest  in  Hamp- 
ton Institute,"  he  wrote,  "dates  from  the  time  when,  as  a 
member  of  the  National  Administration,  I  had  something 
to  do  with  Indian  affairs.  .  .  .  The  system  of  education 
pioneered  by  General  Armstrong  .  .  .  makes  out  of  the 
young  Indian  not  a  mere  clever  savage  ...  it  trains 
him  to  practical  work,  to  earn  his  own  living,  it  inspires 
in  him  the  pride  of  being  useful.  .  .  .  This,  although  by 
no  means  a  novel  idea,  was  in  our  days  first  attempted 
i6o 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

by  Geneial  Armstrong.  His  example  led  to  the  establish- 
ment of  an  Indian  school  in  the  old  Government  barracks 
at  Carlisle  in  Pennsylvania,  and  of  several  others  in  other 
parts  of  the  country  .  .  .  and  by  having  initiated  it 
systematically  and  on  a  large  scale,  General  Armstrong 
has  made  himself  a  genuine  benefactor  of  the  Indian 
race." 

This  general  impression  may  be  fortified  by  the  scrupu- 
lous record  of  individual  cases,  which  was  from  the  outset 
of  the  enterprise  undertaken  by  the  school,  and  which, 
when  published  at  the  end  of  a  twelve-year  term,  provided 
a  convincing  demonstration  of  its  success.  The  biog- 
raphies thus  collected  numbered  four  hundred  and  sixty. 
Graded  according  to  the  character  of  their  later  lives, 
the  list  gave  the  following  showing: — 

Excellent  .  .  98 
Good  .  «  .  219 
Fair       ...       91     Satisfactory       408 


Poor 
Bad. 


35 

17     Disappointing      52     Total  460 


or  a  result  of  88  per  cent,  as  meeting  or  exceeding  the 
expectations  of  the  school.  The  statistics  of  occupations 
proved  difficult  to  tabulate  because  of  the  shifting  trade 
or  task  of  the  returned  students,  but  the  records  of  the 
students  of  a  single  year,  1891-92,  are  typical: — 

Teachers  9,  school  employes  9, 18 

Attending  other  schools 17 

161 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Attending  higher  schools  in  the  East      ....         5 

Supporting  themselves  in  the  East 8 

Regular  missionaries  3,  catechists  12      ....       15 
United  States  soldiers  6,  scouts  3,  postmaster  i, 

mail  carrier  i II 

Agency  employes 

Physicians  2,  interpreters  4,  issue  clerk  i,  police 
4,  district  farmers  2,  in  charge  of  stables  3, 
herders  2,  carpenters  16,  wheelwrights  and 
blacksmiths  7,  harnessmakers  2,  tinsmith  i, 

miller  i 45 

Independent  workers 

Engineers  2,  surveyors  2,  lawyers  2,  merchants 
4,  clerks  6,  carpenters  5,  printer  i,  painter  i, 
freighter  i,  loggers  4,  laborers  7,  house  ser- 
vants 2,  ranchers  6 43 

Farmers 73 

Girls  married,  and  in  good  homes 46* 

The  wide  distribution  of  pupils  returning  to  the  reserva- 
tions is  indicated  in  the  accompanying  map. 

Years  later,  as  Armstrong  looked  back  upon  this  daring 
venture  and  compared  it  with  his  original  undertaking  for 
the  education  of  the  Negro,  he  summed  up  his  conclusions 
as  follows:  "But  it  maybe  asked,  has  Hampton  aban- 
doned the  Negro  ?  Never  has  the  tide  of  Negro  students 
set  in  so  promptly  and  strongly.  What  is  given  for  these 
races  will  come  back  with  usury.     Not  the  least  return 

*"  Twenty-two  Years'  Work  of  Hampton  Institute,"  1893,  p.  488. 
162 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 


f' 


X--7-'  f.  r  — / 


3 


163 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

to  us  may  be  the  educational  methods  which,  inspired 
by  exigencies  and  unchecked  by  tradition,  will  be  worked 
out  amid  the  emergencies  thrust  upon  the  country  by  the 
enfranchisement  of  the  Negro  and  by  the  destruction  of 
the  buffalo,  which  has  brought  the  Indian  to  face  the 
issue  of  civilization  or  extermination.  There  is  no  race 
friction  at  the  school.  The  mingling  of  the  students  there 
is  good  for  both,  pushing  the  Indians  by  the  force  of 
surrounding  influences  quickly  and  naturally  along,  and 
reacting  finely  upon  the  Negro  by  the  appeal  to  his  sym- 
pathies and  better  nature.  The  work  for  another  race 
broadens  and  strengthens  our  movement  and  adds,  if 
possible,  to  its  inspiration." 

There  remained  one  serious  obstacle  to  this  redemptive 
work.  It  was  the  susceptibility  of  these  Indian  students 
to  disease,  especially  to  affections  of  the  lungs.  Of  the 
forty  young  men  first  received,  twenty-one  were  found  to 
be  of  unsound  constitution,  six  were  definitely  diseased, 
and  three  were  in  confirmed  phthisis.  One  died,  and  a 
sense  of  alarm  spread  to  the  reservations  and  obstructed 
the  securing  of  students.  "The  danger  to  this  experi- 
ment," said  Armstrong  in  his  Report  for  1889,  "is  in 
the  matter  of  health.  The  change  from  the  cold  bracing 
air  of  Dakota  to  the  damp  seaside  air  and  lower  altitude 
is  a  risk."  Critics  of  the  venture  were  quick  to  seize 
on  these  facts  as  confirming  their  scepticism,  and  to 
demand  the  return  of  the  Indians  to  their  early  environ- 
ment. The  truth  was,  however,  that  Hampton  was 
bringing  to  light  the  disastrous  effects  of  vice,  ignorance, 
164 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

unsanitary  habits,  and  the  contagion  of  the  white  race, 
which  had  already  afflicted  the  Indian  tribes,  and  had 
been  transmitted  to  their  innocent  children.  Tuber- 
culosis, pneumonia,  and  scrofula  had  for  many  genera- 
tions scourged  both  men  and  women.  Disease  often 
lurked  beneath  what  seemed  massive  strength.  The 
resident  physician  of  the  Carhsle  School,  after  extended 
experience  in  the  West,  gave  it  as  his  opinion:  "It  is 
safe  to  say  that  one  out  of  every  ten,  or  4000  out  of  the 
40,000  children  of  school  age  are  disqualified  either  men- 
tally or  physically  from  attending  school,  and  the  large 
majority  of  these  are  hopelessly  diseased,"  "Full- 
blooded  Indians,"  reported  the  resident  physician  of 
Hampton,  whose  devoted  service  has  become  a  permanent 
asset  of  the  school,  "have  less  endurance  than  the  half- 
or  mixed-bloods,  and  when  attacked  by  tuberculosis 
or  any  form  of  scrofula,  they  perish  more  quickly.  This 
is  the  reverse  of  the  condition  seen  in  the  Negro  race,  in 
which  pure-bloods  are  less  subject  to  phthisis  than  mulat- 
toes  and  lighter  shades.  The  Negro,  whether  full- 
blooded  or  not,  has  greater  physical  stamina  than  the 
Indian,  though  much  less  than  the  Anglo-Saxon.  .  .  . 
Those  who  best  know  what  the  home  life  of  the  Indian  is, 
do  not  think  that  it  is  school  or  civilization.  Western  or 
Eastern,  that  kills  him,  but  rather  the  accumulated 
effect  of  the  vice  and  ignorance  of  generations."  *  In 
short,  the  careful  observations  made  at  Hampton  con- 

*     Report  of  Dr.  M.  M.Waldron  in  "  Twenty-two  Years'  Work  of  Hampton 
Institute,"  1893,  p.  488. 

165 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

cerning  heredity,  habit,  tendency,  and  temperament  as 
affecting  the  physical  Hfe  of  the  Indians,  demonstrated 
a  general  condition  far  more  alarming  than  any  local 
defect,  and  prompted  the  friends  of  the  Indians,  both  as 
agents  of  the  Government  and  as  lovers  of  humanity, 
to  more  rational  and  active  measures  for  the  promotion 
of  sanitation  and  the  prevention  of  disease. 

The  enterprise  thus  annexed  to  the  original  intention 
of  Hampton  soon  had  consequences  for  the  red  race 
hardly  less  notable  than  its  work  for  the  black  race  had 
been.  The  United  States  Government,  having  subsidized 
this  limited  experiment,  was  moved  to  undertake  on  its 
own  part  a  larger  scheme.  In  President  Hayes's  Message 
of  1879  he  announced  :  "The  experiment  of  sending  a 
number  of  Indian  children  of  both  sexes  to  the  Hampton 
Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute  in  Virginia,  to  receive 
an  elementary  English  education  and  practical  instruction 
in  farming  and  other  useful  industries,  has  led  to  results 
so  promising  that  it  was  thought  expedient  to  turn  over 
the  cavalry  barracks  in  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania,  to  the 
Interior  Department  for  the  establishment  of  an  Indian 
school  on  a  larger  scale.  This  school  has  now  158  pupils, 
selected  from  various  tribes,  and  is  in  full  operation. 
Arrangements  are  also  being  made  for  the  education  of  a 
number  of  Indian  boys  and  girls  belonging  to  the  tribes 
on  the  Pacific  slope  in  similar  manner  at  Forest  Grove, 
Oregon.  These  institutions  will  commend  themselves  to 
the  liberality  of  Congress  and  to  the  philanthropic  munifi- 
cence of  the  American  people." 
166 


RESERVATION    HOSPITAL    BUILT    THROUGH    INFLUENCE  OF 
AN  INDIAN  GRADUATE 
Dr.  Susan  La  Flesche  Picotte 


HAMPTON   INDIAN   BREAKING   HIS  OWN   LAND 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

The  Indian  Industrial  School  at  Carlisle,  thus  acknowl- 
edged as  an  heir  of  the  Hampton  tradition,  has  rapidly 
grown  to  an  enrolment  of  814  pupils  (1916) ;  and  the 
Hampton  faith  in  industrial  training  has  become  accepted 
in  a  complete  system  of  Government  schools.  The  Re- 
port of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  for  1916  gives 
impressive  evidence  of  this  conviction.  "  For  many  years," 
he  says,  "the  general  country  has  recognized  a  vital  de- 
ficiency in  its  system  of  education.  The  Indian  Service 
has  recognized  a  similar  deficiency.  The  new  vocational 
course  of  study  for  Indian  schools  is  believed  to  provide 
a  safe  and  substantial  passage  from  school  life  to  success 
in  real  life.  .  .  .  [It]  contemplates  a  practical  system  of 
schools  with  an  essentially  vocational  foundation.  .  .  . 
Indian  schools  must  provide  that  form  of  training  and 
instruction  which  leads  directly  to  productive  efficiency 
and  self-support."  Elaborate  plans  for  the  realization  of 
this  program  are  described  in  this  important  Report,  and 
follow  in  the  main  the  scheme  of  pre-vocational  and 
vocational  studies  long  familiar  at  Hampton  Institute. 
In  a  word,  the  generous  testimony  of  General,  formerly 
Captain,  Pratt  has  become  justified  :  "Without  the  open 
door  at  Hampton  none  of  the  advanced  conditions  in 
Indian  school  affairs  would  have  become  established.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  locate  the  critical  period  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  movement,  but  certainly  Hampton  and 
Armstrong  (Strong  Arm)  can  claim  one  of  the  foremost 
emergency  positions." 

Finally,  in  191 2,  the  appropriation  for  Indian  education 

167 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

at  Hampton  was  withdrawn  by  Congress,  partly  in  the 
interest  of  government  schools  then  firmly  established 
under  the  Hampton  plan,  and  partly  through  the  influence 
of  certain  members  of  Congress  of  Indian  blood,  who 
urged — not  without  self-respecting  motives — that  their 
people  had  now  reached  a  point  of  social  and  financial 
standing  which  deserved  separate  schools  within  easy 
reach  of  their  own  homes.  The  effect  of  this  loss  of 
subsidy  at  Hampton  was  less  serious  than  might  have 
been  anticipated.  Instead  of  a  general  withdrawal  of 
Indian  students,  as  though  confessing  themselves  in- 
capable of  self-support,  nearly  one-half  of  the  eighty-one 
students  enrolled  determined  to  continue  at  their  own 
cost,  and  eight  new  students  were  admitted  for  the  next 
term.  It  was  a  transition  which  could  not  be  faced 
without  some  apprehension,  but  it  has  resulted  in  proving, 
first,  that  the  character  of  the  Indians  had  not  forfeited 
self-respect  through  dependence  on  the  Government; 
and,  secondly,  that  the  group  of  Indians  at  Hampton 
might  be  merged  in  the  general  life  of  the  school,  not  as 
strangers  and  aliens,  but  as  participants  in  a  common 
work.  Loss  in  numbers  was  inevitable,  but  it  has  been 
more  than  atoned  for  by  the  persistency  and  initiative  of 
those  who  have  remained,  and  by  the  efl^ect  of  their 
determined  self-support  on  the  spirit  of  the  school. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  prolong  this  story  of  the 
coming  of  the  Indians  by  describing  many  individual 
cases  among  these  new  wards  of  the  school  who,  returning 
to  their  Western  homes,  readjusted  themselves,  often 
i68 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

with  great  effort,  to  the  environment  of  the  lodge  and  the 
tribe.  Fortunately  for  the  history  of  education  these 
records  of  individuals,  scrupulously  preserved,  and 
published  in  great  detail,  are  open  to  examination,  and 
tell  a  dramatic  story  of  personal  struggle  and  victory. 
President  Angell  of  Michigan  University  often  said  that 
one  of  the  most  fortunate  results  of  a  co-educational 
system  was  its  tendency  to  promote  happy  marriages. 
This  has  proved  the  case  at  Hampton  also.  Sixty-four 
of  the  Indian  girls  have  married  Indian  fellow-students, 
and  the  natural  consequence  of  such  unions  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  self-respecting  homes  among  the  communal 
conditions  prevailing  in  many  Indian  tribes,  has  been 
in  itself  a  form  of  missionary  service. 

Out  of  the  long  series  of  lives  thus  discovering  their 
own  capacities  under  the  influence  of  Hampton,  one,  at 
least,  must  be  recalled,  both  because  of  the  surprising  and 
unique  destiny  which  awaited  it,  and  because  of  the  loss 
which  American  learning  sustained  in  its  early  and  tragic 
end.  William  Jones — "  Megasiawa,  Black  Eagle  " — was 
the  son  of  a  white  mother  and  the  grandson  of  a  white 
Kentuckian.  The  grandfather,  however,  had  married  the 
daughter  of  a  Chief  among  the  Sauk  and  Fox  Indians  of 
Iowa,  and  his  son  became  a  leading  member  of  that 
tribe.  He  in  his  turn  married  an  EngHsh  girl,  who  died 
when  her  son  was  a  year  old,  leaving  him  to  the  care 
of  the  Indian  grandmother.  William  Jones,  therefore, 
though  three-quarters  white  in  descent,  was  reared  in  a 
bark  wigwam,  swinging  by  day  in   his  little  hammock 

169 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

cradle,  learning  to  speak  the  Indian  tongue  and  "seeing 
life  over  his  grandmother's  shoulder  from  his  perch  on  her 
strong  back."  From  the  lodge  and  camp-fire  he  was 
transferred  at  the  age  of  ten  to  a  school  for  Indians, 
maintained  in  Indiana  by  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  there 
first  learned  to  use  the  English  language.  At  thirteen  he 
returned  to  the  Indian  Territory,  where  for  three  years  he 
was  a  plainsman  and  cowboy.  Then,  in  1889,  a  Hampton 
teacher  arrived  at  the  reservation  in  the  course  of  her 
search  for  new  students,  and  the  boy.  Black  Eagle,  "in 
cowboy  clothes,  broad  felt  hat,  and  with  a  silk  handker- 
chief round  his  throat,"  reluctantly  yielded  himself  to  her 
care.  For  three  years  he  worked  at  Hampton,  on  the 
farm,  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  and  in  the  class-room,  in 
1892  proceeding  to  Andover  Academy,  and  thence  in 
1896  to  Harvard  University,  where  he  graduated  in  1900. 
His  knowledge  of  Indian  life  and  languages  brought  him 
to  the  attention  of  the  professors  of  Ethnology  and 
Archaeology,  and  they  encouraged  his  hope  of  becoming 
a  historian  of  the  legends  and  beliefs  of  his  people,  which 
were  so  difficult  for  the  uninitiated  to  approach  or  under- 
stand. He  became  a  Fellow  in  Anthropology  at  Columbia 
University  in  1901,  and  a  Doctor  of  Philosophy  in  1904; 
and  after  various  journeys  among  the  Indians  of  the 
United  States  undertook  an  exploration  of  the  wild  races 
of  the  Philippine  Islands,  reaching  at  length  the  tribe  of 
Ilongots,  "a  Negrito-Malay  people,  dwelling  in  lofty 
booths  on  poles  and  in  the  forks  of  trees  .  .  .  little  naked 
brownies,  head-hunters,  armed  with  wooden  shields, 
170 


WILLIAM    JONKS    (Mkgasiawa) 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

light  spears,  cruelly  barbed  bows  and  arrows,  and  bolos 
with  deep-bellied  blades."  Here,  for  eighteen  months, 
among  the  most  savage  and  filthy  surroundings  and  in 
daily  peril  of  his  life,  he  calmly  pursued  his  studies  and 
made  his  collections,  until,  in  the  spring  of  1909,  "when 
the  head-hunting  fever  sends  each  ambitious  lover 
abroad  for  a  trophy,"  he  was  suddenly  and  brutally 
murdered,  without  reason  or  motive,  "as  boys  might 
kill  a  squirrel."  *  It  was  a  tragic  frustration  of  rare  gifts 
and  promise.  Dr.  Jones  was  less  than  forty  years  of 
age,  happily  betrothed,  and  with  unique  opportunities 
for  scientific  distinction.  Yet  for  his  teachers  and 
friends  at  Hampton  his  life  thus  suddenly  cut  short 
remains  a  permanent  and  inspiring  lesson.  Hidden 
away  on  the  prairie  and  discovered  only  by  the  friendly 
search-party  from  Hampton,  were  these  extraordinary 
gifts ;  and,  as  it  has  been  often  said  that  the  existence  of 
the  school  would  be  justified  by  the  single  discovery  of  the 
Negro,  Booker  Washington,  so  it  might  be  added  that 
its  work  for  the  Indians  is  sufficiently  vindicated  by  the 
career  of  "  Megasiawa." 

Such,  in  brief  outline,  is  the  story  of  the  coming  of  the 
Indians.  It  is  a  chapter  which  may  be  detached  from 
the  general  narrative  of  Hampton  Institute;  it  deals 
with  a  by-product  of  the  purpose  of  the  school;  the 
problem  of  Indian  education,  fortunately  both  for  the 
Indian   and   for   Hampton,   has   become   merged   in   the 

*  H.  M.  Rideout,  "William  Jones,  Indian  Cowboy,  American  Scholar  and 
Anthropologist  in  the  Field,"  191 2. 

171 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

general  work  of  national  education,  and  there  is  no  longer 
a  distinct  responsibility  for  a  separate  group,  or  an 
annually  recurring  need  of  soliciting  Congressional  sym- 
pathy. Indians  and  Negroes  march  together,  work  to- 
gether, and  play  together,  not  as  contrasted  races,  but  as 
fellow-Americans.  Yet  when  one  recalls  the  brief  period 
in  which  this  change  has  occurred,  the  bold  venture  of 
1878  becomes  singularly  impressive.  Instead  of  a  huddled 
group  of  suspicious  savages,  deported  by  force  from  the 
prairies,  and  finally  handed  over  to  the  care  of  a  school 
designed  for  another  race,  one  now  sees,  not  only  a 
comprehensive  system  of  Indian  schools  within  easy 
reach  of  the  reservations,  but  at  Hampton  itself  a  group 
of  well-qualified  Indian  students,  independent  of  Govern- 
ment aid,  registered  by  their  own  desire,  earning  their 
own  way,  and  competent  as  graduates  to  apply  to  their 
own  communities  the  best  that  the  science  of  rural  living 
has  to  give.  It  is  a  transition  which  is  the  more  significant 
because  it  has  been  unheralded  and  almost  unobserved. 
It  rrieans  simply  that  one  great  and  baffling  American 
problem  has  been,  on  the  small  scale  possible  to  a  single 
school,  practically  solved.  There  is  no  Indian  Question 
at  Hampton.     There  is  only  an  Education  for  Life. 

In  one  of  the  last  campaigns  of  Indian  resistance  to  the 
aggression  of  the  whites.  General  Custer  and  his  entire 
force  were  slaughtered  in  the  battle  of  the  Big  Horn  River ; 
and  in  this  tragic  incident  Longfellow  found  a  subject  for 
his  dramatic  poem,  "The  Revenge  of  Rain-in-the-Face." 
The  poet  describes  the  apparently  inevitable  conflict 
172 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

of  that  period  between  the  savages  and  the  soldiers ;  the 
protest,  on  the  one  hand,  against  broken  promises,  and 
the  gallant  defence,  on  the  other  hand,  of  broken  faith. 

In  that  desolate  land  and  lone. 
Where  the  Big  Horn  and  Yellowstone 

Roar  down  their  mountain  path. 
By  their  fires  the  Sioux  Chiefs 
Muttered  their  woes  and  griefs 

And  the  menace  of  their  wrath. 

"Revenge!"  cried  Rain-in-the-Face, 
"  Revenge  upon  all  the  race 

Of  the  White  Chief  with  yellow  hair  !  " 
And  the  mountains  dark  and  high 
From  their  crags  re-echoed  the  cry 

Of  his  anger  and  despair. 

In  the  meadow,  spreading  wide 
By  woodland  and  river-side 

The  Indian  village  stood  ; 
All  was  silent  as  a  dream. 
Save  the  rushing  of  the  stream 

And  the  blue-jay  in  the  wood. 

In  his  war  paint  and  his  beads. 
Like  a  bison  among  the  reeds. 

In  ambush  the  Sitting  Bull 
Lay  with  three  thousand  braves 
Crouched  in  the  clefts  and  caves, 

Savage,  unmerciful ! 

173 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Into  the  fatal  snare 

The  White  Chief  with  yellow  hair 

And  his  three  hundred  men 
Dashed  headlong,  sword  in  hand ; 
But  of  that  gallant  band 

Not  one  returned  again. 

The  sudden  darkness  of  death 
Overwhelmed  them  like  the  breath 

And  smoke  of  a  furnace  fire  : 
By  the  river's  bank,  and  between 
The  rocks  of  the  ravine. 

They  lay  in  their  bloody  attire. 


Whose  was  the  right  and  the  wrong  ? 
Sing  it,  O  funeral  song. 

With  a  voice  that  is  full  of  tears, 
And  say  that  our  broken  faith 
Wrought  all  this  ruin  and  scathe. 

In  the  Year  of  a  Hundred  Years. 

Ten  years  after  this  tragedy  of  the  Big  Horn,  througli 
one  of  the  most  surprising  transformations  in  the  history 
of  human  character,  this  same  Chief,  "  Rain-in-the-Face," 
who  might  have  seemed  an  implacable  foe  of  the  white 
race,  announced  to  the  missionary  at  Standing  Rock 
Agency  in  Dakota  that  he  wanted  a  white  man's  educa- 
tion, and  proposed  to  migrate  as  a  student  to  Hampton 
174 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Institute.  It  proved  that  the  chief  had  become  too  old 
to  be  admitted  as  a  student ;  but  the  docihty  and  humihty 
of  his  mind  in  accepting  the  new  order  of  things  showed 
that  a  new  era  had  arrived,  when,  with  a  Hteralness  of 
which  the  Hebrew  Prophet  could  hardly  have  conceived, 
men  might  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares  and  their 
spears  into  pruning-hooks ;  neither  should  they  learn 
war  any  more.  Hearing  of  this  extraordinary  conversion 
of  an  enemy  on  the  war-path  into  a  pupil  seeking  the 
school-room,  and  seeing  in  it  the  sign  that  wrongs  were  to 
be  righted  and  faith  to  be  no  longer  broken,  Whittier 
added  to  Longfellow's  verses  his  own  supplementary 
lines;  and  his  picture  of  the  "Chief  of  the  Slaughter- 
pen"  turning  at  last  to  the  "Chief  of  the  Christ-like 
School"  makes  a  sufficient  conclusion  to  this  story  of  the 
coming  of  the  Indians. 

The  years  are  but  half  a  score. 
And  the  war-whoop  sounds  no  more 

With  the  blast  of  bugles,  where 
Straight  into  a  slaughter-pen. 
With  his  doomed  three  hundred  men, 

Rode  the  Chief  with  the  yellow  hair. 

O  Hampton,  down  by  the  sea ! 
What  voice  is  beseeching  thee 

For  the  scholar's  lowliest  place  ? 
Can  this  be  the  voice  of  him 
Who  fought  on  the  Big  Horn  rim  ? 

Can  this  be  Rain-in-the-Face  ? 

175 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 


His  war  paint  is  washed  away, 
His  hands  have  forgotten  to  slay ; 

He  seeks  for  himself  and  his  race 
The  arts  of  peace  and  the  lore 
That  give  to  the  skilled  hand  more 

Than  the  spoils  of  war  and  chase. 

O  Chief  of  the  Christ-like  school ! 
Can  the  zeal  of  thy  heart  grow  cool 

When  the  victor  scarred  with  fight 
Like  a  child  for  guidance  craves, 
And  the  faces  of  hunters  and  braves 

Are  turning  to  thee  for  light  ? 

The  hatchet  lies  overgrown 
With  grass  by  the  Yellowstone, 

Wind  River,  and  Paw  of  Bear ; 
And,  in  sign  that  foes  are  friends. 
Each  lodge  like  a  peace-pipe  sends 

Its  smoke  in  the  quiet  air. 


The  hills  that  have  watched  afar 
The  valleys  ablaze  with  war 

Shall  look  on  the  tasseled  corn ; 
And  the  dust  of  the  grinded  grain, 
Instead  of  the  blood  and  the  slain. 

Shall  sprinkle  thy  banks,  Big  Horn  ! 


176 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

The  Ute  and  the  wandering  Crow 
Shall  know  as  the  white  men  know, 
And  fare  as  the  white  men  fare ; 
The  pale  and  the  red  shall  be  brothers, 
One's  right  shall  be  as  another's, 

Home,  School,  and  House  of  Prayer ! 

O  mountains  that  climb  to  snow, 
O  river  winding  below, 

Through  meadows  by  war  once  trod, 
O  wild  waste  lands  that  await 
The  harvest  exceeding  great, 

Break  forth  into  praise  of  God  ! 


177 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 

THE     YEARS     OF     FULFILMENT     (1878-1890) 

THE  years  which  followed  this  accession  of  Indians  to 
the  roll  of  students  at  Hampton  Institute  were  crowded 
with  new  problems  and  achievements.  To  adjust  the  two 
races  in  friendly  intimacy ;  to  adapt  the  curriculum  for 
the  newcomers  while  at  the  same  time  raising  the  level 
of  instruction  for  the  ripening  minds  of  Negro  youths; 
to  provide  even  the  physical  necessities  of  lodging,  class- 
rooms, and  workshops  for  a  rapidly  multiplying  constitu- 
ency ;  not  to  speak  of  meeting  the  criticisms  of  the  school 
which  increasing  publicity  involved  and  which,  whether 
they  proceeded  from  ignorance  or  jealousy,  must  be 
patiently  met  and  intelligently  answered, — all  these  varied 
demands  taxed  the  wisdom  and  ingenuity  of  Armstrong 
and  his  staff. 

Yet,  as  he  summed  up  his  impressions  of  this  expanding 
task,  he  found  in  it  reasonable  grounds  for  a  correspond- 
ingly expanding  hope.  "I  have  just  been  talking,"  he 
writes  to  a  friend  in  Boston,  "to  my  450 — the  usual 
Sunday-evening  talk.  With  dusky,  bright,  earnest  faces 
they  seemed  to  look  up  from  a  pitiful  past  to  better  things. 
How  few  people  have  any  idea  of  the  mental  and  moral 
resources  of  the  finer  young  Negro  men  and  women  !  The 
178 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

average  is  low  but  the  select  are  not.  They  have  a  capac- 
ity for  devotion  to  those  who  help  them,  and  a  possible 
devotion  of  themselves  to  doing  good  among  their  people 
that  we  do  not  find  in  the  same  proportion  in  a  higher, 
less  simple  civilization.  Our  work  is  like  that  of  a  sculp- 
tor. The  material  is  plastic,  yet  capable  of  solidifying 
under  proper  treatment  into  fine  and  noble  forms  of 
humanity ;  better  often  than  the  world  dreams  of.  Edu- 
cation is  not  a  matter  of  course  with  them,  it  is  beyond 
them,  attainable  only  by  effort  and  struggle.  Here  is  the 
inspiration  of  it :  that  one  is  responded  to,  called  out ;  not 
in  one  direction  as  a  specialist,  but  as  a  man  to  make  men. 
I  wonder  so  few  strong  men  have  gone  into  this  work,  and 
sought  it  if  only  for  the  reaction  on  their  own  lives,  the 
reflex  good.  .  .  .  These  souls  come  out  to  meet  our  own, 
and  as  we  lift  them  they  lift  us,  and  we  are  in  a  fine,  true 
sense  together.'' 

The  statistics  of  the  school  during  this  period  confirm 
this  sense  of  encouragement.  Where  in  1878  there  were 
323  students,  in  1886  there  were  693.  Where  in  1878  the 
staff  numbered  24,  in  1886  there  were  70.  The  practice 
school  had  increased  from  a  roll  of  90  in  1878  to  300  in 
1886;  and  the  holding  of  land  by  the  school  from  192 
acres  in  1878  to  778  acres  in  1886.  Meantime  the  en- 
dowment had  advanced  from  $65,819.37  in  1878  to 
$109,769.87  in  1886.  More  significant  were  the  moral 
statistics,  collated  in  1889,  when  of  540  living  graduates 
less  than  50  were  reported  as  "not  doing  well."  Three- 
quarters  of  the  entire  list  of  graduates  were  teachers  and 

179 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE  y 

the  rest  "good  industrious  citizens  living  in  their  own 
homes  and  teaching  by  example,  if  not  by  precept." 

The  buildings  erected  during  these  years  of  expansion 
make  a  formidable  and  varied  list :  stables  and  dormi- 
tories, a  sawmill  and  a  library,  a  hospital  and  a  machine 
shop,  an  Academic  Hall  and  a  Science  Building,  involving 
a  total  cost  of  more  than  $200,000 ;  and  finally,  in  1886,  the 
stately  Memorial  Church,  erected  through  the  generosity 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elbert  B.  Monroe,  as  executors  of  the 
estate  of  Frederick  D.  Marquand,  at  a  cost  of  $65,000. 
This  noble  structure  then  appeared  to  be  the  last  impor- 
tant building  needed  by  the  school.  *'  It  will,"  wrote  Arm- 
.  strong,  "  so  far  as  I  can  see,  bring  to  an  end  our  system  of 
large  and  costly  buildings."  The  mishaps  and  disappoint- 
ments which  accompanied  this  expansion  did  not  obstruct 
either  the  movement  itself  or  the  confidence  of  the  Prin- 
cipal. Obstacles,  he  would  say,  are  things  to  be  overcome ; 
and  when  on  Sunday,  November  9,  1879,  Academic  Hall, 
the  first  building  of  importance  erected  on  the  grounds, 
was  destroyed  by  fire,  Armstrong  gathered  his  staff  after 
midnight  in  the  light  of  the  conflagration,  not  only  to 
announce  that  the  routine  of  the  school  should  proceed 
with  but  one  day's  interruption,  but  to  add  with  play- 
fulness :  "  This  will  give  a  good  text  for  the  next  Hampton 
campaign." 

In  1880  the  condition  of  the  school  appeared  to  be  so 
propitious  that  Armstrong  was  persuaded  to  visit  for  the 
first  time  after  an  interval  of  twenty  years  his  home  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands ;  and  the  impression  of  a  similar  condi- 
180 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

tion  and  problem,  which  had  originally  prompted  him  to 
serve  another  undeveloped  race,  is  again  recorded  by  him 
in  many  striking  paragraphs  of  his  diary.  "Here  lie," 
he  wrote  of  the  cemetery  at  Honolulu,  "the  pioneers  of 
Christian  civihzation  in  the  Pacific.  They  tried  to  make 
a  New  England  in  the  tropics — Puritans  out  of  Hawaiians. 
They  did  not  do  that,  but  they  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
civilization  that  is  working  itself  out  according  to  its 
peculiar  conditions.  They  created  a  moral  force  which, 
terribly  opposed,  not  so  much  by  heathen  as  by  men  from 
Christian  countries,  has  asserted  and  sustained  the  wor- 
ship of  God  and  the  ascendency  of  order,  justice,  human- 
ity, but  has  not  yet  won  the  battle.  ...  Its  worst, 
because  most  insidious  danger  is  ahead.  In  opposition 
and  poverty  it  was  strong.  This  period  has  passed.  .  .  . 
Rapid  money-making  in  any  country  makes  both  good  and 
bad  possibilities."  * 

He  re-visited  the  school  at  Hilo,  on  the  island  of  Hawaii, 
which,  he  says,  "was  the  chief  stimulus  or  suggestion  that 
led  me,  when  sent  in  1866  by  General  Howard  to  scatter 
the  surplus  population  of  the  peninsula  of  Virginia,  to 
commence  an  educational  work  there."  "Here,"  he 
writes,  "  are  sixty  native  boys,  with  a  course  of  study  very 
like  that  at  Hampton.  One-half  of  the  boys  wholly  sup- 
port themselves.  It  takes  grit  and  makes  grit  to  get 
through."  He  surveys  the  whole  project  of  missionary 
service  and  compares  it  with  the  task  on  which  he  is 
himself  engaged.     "Judged  by  the  progress  of  the  Ha- 

*  Ludlow  Mss.,  pp.  823  ff. 

181 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

waiian  people  since  1820,  the  missionary  work  here  has 
been  a  grand  success.  Judged  by  Puritan  standards  of 
morals,  it  has  been  a  sad  failure.  .  .  .  We  cannot  at 
once  assume  stability  of  character  when  assured  of  con- 
version. Habits  cannot  be  reversed  like  a  steam  engine. 
It  takes  time,  and  in  time  it  can  be  done.  A  New  Eng- 
land man  asked  me  :  'How  much  have  the  Negroes  im- 
proved in  morals  in  ten  years  .? '  I  answered  :  *  How  much 
has  New  England  improved  in  morals  in  ten  years  ? '  I 
think  the  Negro  has  improved  relatively  the  most.  Is 
absolute  condition,  or  relative  progress  the  right  test — 
what  has  been  done  for  us,  or  what  we  have  done  for  our- 
selves ?  Birthright  virtues  or  birthright  vices  should 
not  count  like  those  men  create  by  their  own  choice. 
Bed  rock  must  be  gradually  erected^ — it  takes  centuries." 
"One  must  remember,"  he  urges,  "the  point  of  departure 
rather  than  the  point  attained.  The  means  of  civiliza- 
tion in  the  early  days  were  scarce  and  hard  to  get.  Father 
Bond  told  me  that  once  there  were  but  eight  garments  in 
his  parish  of  seven  thousand  souls,  and  one  of  them  was  a 
cotton  night-cap.  Men  and  women  wore  them  in  turn 
till  all  had  had  a  chance."  The  defects  of  a  type  of  edu- 
cation adapted  to  the  New  England  character  impressed 
him  as  they  had  on  the  Hampton  peninsula.  "Over-educa- 
tion and  lack  of  practical  training  are  dangers  with  these 
weak  races.  .  .  .  For  the  average  pupil  too  much  is  as  bad 
as  too  little.  .  .  .  Character  does  not  develop  as  rapidly 
as  mind.  .  .  .  The  temptation  to  abuse  power  without 
gradual  appropriation  for  its  use  is  well-nigh  irresistible." 
182 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Finally,  on  his  return,  Armstrong  sums  up  the  lessons 
of  his  refreshing  journey.  "The  one  great  lesson  of 
the  Hawaiian  mission  is,  I  believe,  that  we  must  more 
and  more  recognize  the  value  and  necessity  of  practical 
training  of  the  whole  life.  Self-reliance  and  decent 
living  must  not  only  be  practised  but  pushed  upon  the 
convert,  whose  well-ordered  life  should  be  a  daily  lesson. 
A  maxim  of  mission  work  might  well  be,  Ideas  take  root 
in  a  moment,  habits  only  in  a  generation.  Such  work 
means  the  uplifting  of  the  whole  man  by  God's  grace  and 
by  every  means  that  human  wisdom  suggests,  and  then 
by  protecting  him  from  the  harm  that  he  would  do  himself 
until  he  is  thoroughly  established  in  well-doing,  which 
must  be  a  matter  of  time  and  habit."  He  reached  Hamp- 
ton in  September  1880,  and  writes  in  his  diary:  "All  has 
gone  well  during  my  absence ;  the  work  is  full  of  stimulus 
and  hope ;  the  fun  of  Hfe  is  in  action,  not  in  result.  Nothing 
pays  like  working  for  ideas.  The  school  seems  full  of  life 
and  potency." 

Armstrong  returned  with  new  vigor  and  confidence, 
both  to  the  routine  of  the  school  and  to  the  maintaining 
of  generous  interest  among  its  friends.  To  promote  this 
public  confidence  a  series  of  extended  journeys  through 
the  North  became  essential.  With  a  group  of  Negro 
singers  and  a  picturesque  Indian  to  tell  the  story  of  his 
transition  from  the  blanket  to  the  Hampton  uniform, 
Armstrong  set  forth  on  his  circuit  tours  through  New 
England  and  the  Middle  States,  stirring  his  hearers  by  his 
own  appeal  and  by  the  poignant  music  of  his  wards,  visit- 

183 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

ing  old  friends  and  making  new  ones,  and  encountering 
with  unperturbed  cheerfulness  and  a  Hvely  sense  of  humor 
the  vicissitudes  of  a  traveUing  showman.  It  was,  for  a 
man  of  sensitiveness  and  refinement,  a  grim  experience, 
and  not  infrequently  more  trying  to  nerves  and  temper 
than  missionary  work  in  some  jungle  of  Africa  unvisited 
by  critics  or  scoffers.  The  Apostle  Paul  recounts  his 
journeys  along  the  Mediterranean  Coast  as  testifying 
to  his  apostleship.  "Are  they  ministers  of  Christ  ?  I  am 
more ;  in  labors  more  abundant ;  in  journeyings  often  ; 
in  perils  in  the  city ;  in  perils  in  the  wilderness ;  in  weari- 
ness and  painfulness,  beside  those  things  that  are  without, 
that  which  cometh  upon  me  daily,  the  care  of  all  the 
churches."  In  something  of  the  same  language  Armstrong 
might  have  told  of  his  journeyings,  in  city  and  wilder- 
ness, in  weariness  and  painfulness,  bearing  about  with  him 
all  the  while  an  added  anxiety  for  the  work  left  behind, 
and  which  came  upon  him  daily — the  care  of  Hampton 
itself. 

Here  is  one  among  many  letters  which  acknowledge 
the  fruits  of  his  appeal  and  indicate  the  intensity  with 
which  this  missionary  work  was  done.  "Dear  Mrs. 
Stearns :  Many  thanks  for  your  'Thank  Offering  '  .  .  . 
I  long  ago  found  that  the  only  way  out  of  a  scrape  is 
through  it ;  so  the  only  thing  to  do  now  is  to  keep  at  this 
job.  It  is  sometimes  tiresome,  but  it  pays.  We  must 
all  work  our  passage  to  the  skies.  Some  like  you  must 
only  stand  and  wait ;  it's  all  the  same.  .  .  .  You  have 
the  harder  lot,  with  your  infirmity.  I  can  keep  out  of 
184 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

mischief  only  by  the  hardest  work."  And  again  :  **  Your 
letter  is  deeply  interesting.  It  would  do  me  good  to 
think  that  the  land  is  full  of  women  like  you  who  feel  for 
its  welfare  and  its  woes.  .  .  .  Would  that  all  in  the  land 
would  make,  according  to  their  abihty,  an  offering  to  some 
good  work,  as  a  sign  of  their  feeling.  That  would  at  once 
sweep  away  a  vast  amount  of  sorrow  and  suffering."  It 
was  not  surprising  that  the  flashing  eyes  of  Armstrong 
grew  more  burning  and  intense  as  though  the  fire  within 
were  consuming  him.  No  city  or  town  was  so  indifferent, 
no  audience  was  so  meagre,  as  to  deter  him  from  pas- 
sionate and  confident  appeal.  One  never  knew  whether 
some  heart  might  be  touched  or  some  last  will  and  tes- 
tament affected  by  his  story. 

One  reminiscence  of  a  listener  is  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  indiscriminating  persistency  with  which  the  most 
modest  possibiHty  was  met.  **I  suppose  that  every  lover 
of  General  Armstrong  recalls  some  special  incident  which 
seems  most  entirely  typical  of  the  man's  life  and  heart. 
For  my  part,  I  think  oftenest  of  one  of  those  scenes  in  his 
many  begging  journeys  to  the  North.  It  was  at  a  little 
suburban  church,  far  down  a  side-street,  on  a  winter's 
night,  in  the  midst  of  a  driving  storm  of  sleet.  There 
was,  as  nearly  as  possible,  no  congregation  present;  a 
score  or  so  of  humble  people,  showing  no  sign  of  any 
money  to  contribute,  were  scattered  through  the  empty 
spaces,  and  a  dozen  restless  boys  kicked  their  heels  in  the 
front  pew.  Then,  amid  this  emptiness  and  hopelessness, 
up  rose  the  worn,  gaunt  soldier,  as  bravely  and  gladly  as 

i8s 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

if  a  multitude  were  hanging  on  his  words,  and  his  deep- 
sunk  eyes  looked  out  beyond  the  bleakness  of  the  scene 
into  the  world  of  his  ideals,  and  the  cold  little  place  was 
aglow  with  the  fire  that  was  in  him,  until  it  was  like  the 
scene  on  the  Mount,  which  was  not  any  less  wonderful 
and  glistening  because  only  three  undiscerning  followers 
were  permitted  to  see  the  glory."  * 

In  1 88 1  two  events  occurred  which  contributed  much 
to  the  stability  of  the  school  and  to  the  hope  of  the 
Founder.  The  first  was  the  inauguration  of  General  Gar- 
field, who  had  for  four  years  been  a  Trustee  at  Hampton, 
as  President  of  the  United  States.  This  important  ally 
had  repeatedly  expressed  his  personal  confidence  which 
now  became  an  official  recognition.  At  his  inauguration 
the  Hampton  cadets  paraded  in  the  procession  and  in 
their  ranks  were  Negroes  who  had  fought  for  the  Govern- 
ment and  Indians  who  had  fought  against  it.  The  school 
colors  were  borne  by  a  Negro,  and  the  national  flag  by  a 
Cheyenne  Indian  who  had  once  been  a  prisoner  of  war. 
On  June  4,  1881,  President  Garfield  addressed  the  Hamp- 
ton School  in  Bethesda  Chapel  and  this  address  was  his 
last  public  utterance  before  the  tragedy  of  his  assassina- 
tion. His  noble  words  have  remained  a  classic  memory  to 
all  friends  of  Hampton.  "Labor  must  be,"  he  said,  "for 
you,  for  all.  Without  it  there  can  be  no  civilization.  You 
of  the  African  race  have  learned  this  teaching,  but  you 
have  learned  it  under  the  lash.  The  mighty  voice  of  war 
spoke  out  to  you  and  to  us  all  that  labor  must  be  forever 

♦"Founder's  Day  Address,"  1898. 
186 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

free.  The  basis  of  all  civilization  is  that  labor  must  be. 
The  basis  of  everything  great  in  civilization  is  that  labor 
must  be  free.  General  Armstrong  is  working  out  this 
problem  on  both  sides,  reaching  one  hand  to  the  South  and 
one  hand  to  the  West,  working  it  out  in  the  only  way  it 
can  be  worked  out,  the  way  that  will  give  us  a  country 
without  section  and  a  people  without  a  stain." 

The  second  important  event  of  the  same  year  was  the 
appointment  of  a  young  Presbyterian  minister,  Hollis 
Burke  Frissell,  as  Chaplain  of  the  school.  This  modest 
and  self-effacing  associate  undertook  at  once  all  per- 
sonal oversight  of  the  young  men,  together  with  the  con- 
duct of  worship,  and  in  addition  took  his  share  in  jour- 
neys to  the  North  in  search  of  money,  and  to  the  West  in 
search  of  desirable  Indian  students.  There  soon  followed 
a  period  of  religious  interest  among  the  students  which 
not  only  testified  to  their  susceptibility,  but  confirmed 
the  wisdom  of  the  Principal  in  the  selection  of  his  col- 
league. To  describe  this  incident  as  a  revival  might  sug- 
gest that  the  emotions  of  the  Negroes  were  stirred  to  such 
ecstasies  as  the  camp-meetings  had  witnessed,  and  that 
the  Indians  were  moved  by  the  same  instincts  which  their 
fathers  had  satisfied  by  ghost  dances.  Very  remote 
from  this  religious  hysteria  and  moral  laxity  was  the  re- 
vival of  1883.  In  its  simplicity  and  effect  it  testified  to 
the  capacity  of  both  races  for  spiritual  restraint  and 
for  moral  renewal.  **  You  will  be  glad  to  know,"  writes 
General  Armstrong  in  January  1883,  "of  the  good  work 
here.     There  is  a  general  religious  interest  in  the  school 

187 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

unprecedented  in  its  history.  About  sixty  students  have 
already  given  themselves  to  Christ,  Indians  as  well  as 
Negroes,  and  we  are  in  the  height  of  it.  It  is  very 
quiet,  no  excitement,  but  deep  and  strong,  and  all  are 
wonderfully  impressed  by  the  presence  of  God's  spirit." 
As  a  consequence  of  this  spiritual  revival  the  entire  Senior 
Class,  together  with  a  number  of  the  Indians,  dedicated 
themselves  to  the  Christian  life. 

A  few  years  later,  in  1887,  a  further  enlargement  of 
opportunity  for  Hampton  students  was  secured  by  the 
firmer  establishment  of  an  adequate  practice-school,  where 
training  in  teaching  should  be  combined  with  service  to 
the  community,  and  which  was  dedicated  to  the  memory 
of  the  poet  Whittier.  Among  the  earliest  of  General  But- 
ler's provisions  for  the  contrabands  thrown  upon  his  care 
in  1 86 1  was  the  erection  of  a  schoolhouse  where  refugees 
might  be  taught,  and  for  some  years  the  agents  of  the 
American  Missionary  Association  provided  instruction. 
In  1871  the  Hampton  Trustees  gave  the  use  of  this  build- 
ing to  Elizabeth  City  County  for  a  colored  free  school, 
reserving  the  right  to  nominate  the  teachers,  thus  putting 
it  into  relations  with  the  new  public  school  system  of 
Virginia.  In  1879  the  "  Butler  "  became  a  school  of  obser- 
vation for  Seniors  of  the  Institute,  with  industrial  train- 
ing added  for  the  "Butler-mites."  In  1887,  when  the 
Butler  schoolhouse,  after  twenty-five  years  of  service, 
had  become  little  more  than  a  shell,  a  generous  gift  from 
the  estate  of  Frederick  D.  Marquand  made  possible  a 
new  and  model  building  (the  Whittier  Training  School), 
188 


< 

w 
X 

H 

O 

H 
P 


o 

O 

X 

u 


< 

H 

Pi 

W 

X 

W 
H 

O 

^; 

OS 

Q 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

which  has  continued  to  be  an  important  centre  both  of 
instruction  to  the  children  of  the  neighborhood  and  of 
training  for  the  normal  students. 

Visitors  to  Hampton  Institute  recall  with  special  pleas- 
ure the  amusing  yet  touching  session  of  this  practice- 
school.  The  record,  made  by  Miss  Alice  Bacon,  of  the 
first  day  after  its  dedication  is  entertaining.  "At  last  the 
children  are  all  seated  in  their  schoolrooms,  awaiting  the 
stroke  of  the  bell  that  is  to  summon  them  into  the  Hall. 
General  Armstrong  comes  in,  sparing  an  hour  out  of  his 
crowded  time  for  the  sake  of  greeting  the  children  in 
their  new  building.  Questions  and  answers  proceed  after 
this  manner : — 

General  Armstrong — *Now,  children,  I  want  you  to  tell 
me  who  built  this  fine  new  building.' 

Small  voice  from  the  front  row — 'General  Butler  !' 
Gen.  A. — 'No,  General  Butler  built  the  old   building 
that  has  been  pulled  down.     Doesn't  anyone  know  who 
built  this  new  one  ?' 

Another  voice  from  the  hoys^  side — *Mr.  Monroe  !' 
Gen.  A. — 'No,  it  wasn't  Mr.  Monroe.     He  built  our 
beautiful  new  church  at  the  Normal  School,  but  he  didn't 
build  this  building.     Try  again  !' 

Several  voices  from  different  parts  of  the  room — 'General 
Armstrong !  * 

Gen.  A. — 'Who  was  the  Father  of  his  country  ?' 
Unanimous  response — 'George  Washington.' 
Gen.  A. — 'What  did  George  Washington  do  ?* 
Small  girl  in  front — 'He  never  told  a  lie.' 

189 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Gen.  A. — 'Now  I  want  you  to  tell  me  who  set  you  free.* 

A  number  of  voices — 'Abraham  Lincoln.' 

Gen.  A. — *But  there  was  some  one  who  set  you  free 
before  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  you  must  remember  him.  It 
was  General  Butler — (a  pause,  in  which  the  children  absorb 
the  information).     Now,  what  did  General  Butler  do  ?' 

Small  voice  piping  up  absently  from  the  middle  of  the 
hall — *  He  never  told  a  lie  ! ' 

"This  is  too  much  for  our  gravity  and  there  is  some 
danger  of  a  complete  upset  on  the  part  of  the  older  people. 
The  General  goes  back  to  his  questioning : — 

Gen.  A. — 'Somebody  mentioned  President  Lincoln 
just  now.     What  did  he  do  ?' 

Another  voice y  quite  sure  this  time — 'Told  a  lie  !' 

"  Our  gravity  is  again  seriously  imperilled,  but  we  pull 
ourselves  together  in  time  to  hear : —        \ 

Gen.  A. — '  When  President  Lincoln  was  a  boy,  he  had  to 
work  very  hard.  He  had  to  split  rails.  You  know  all 
these  rails  in  the  fences  about  here  and  all  over  the  State 
of  Virginia.  Now  somebody  had  to  split  all  those  rails. 
Who  split  them  ? ' 

Unanimous  answer — 'Abraham  Lincoln.'  " 

Amusing  incidents  of  this  character,  however,  cannot 
disguise  from  the  visitor  the  pathos  of  the  scene.  The 
salute  of  the  colors  as  the  proud  young  flag-bearer  enters ; 
the  eager  look  of  the  dusky  faces ;  the  earnest  and  skilful 
teachers ;  and  the  undiscovered  future  which  awaits  these 
children  of  an  often  discouraged  race, — all  combine  to  send 
the  beholder  away  with  both  a  smile  and  a  tear.  The  poet 
190 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

whose  name  the  school  commemorates  maintained  to  the 
end  of  his  Hfe  the  closest  interest  in  its  affairs,  and  his  last 
volume,  "St.  Gregory's  Guest  and  Recent  Poems,"  was 
dedicated  to  General  Armstrong,  "whose  generous  and 
self-denying  labors  for  the  elevation  of  two  races  have 
enlisted  my  sympathies  and  commanded  my  admiration." 
In  close  connection  with  the  practice-school  should  be 
named  the  Teachers'  Institute,  begun  as  early  as  1876, 
and  in  1899  more  securely  organized  as  a  Summer  School, 
when  nearly  three  hundred  teachers  from  many  Southern 
States  were  in  attend  ance  for  a  session  of  four  weeks.  This 
by-product  of  Hampton's  activity  was  further  strength- 
ened in  1906  by  more  rigid  regulations  of  attendance  and 
evidence  of  serious  intention,  and  in  191 1  the  Department 
of  Education  in  Virginia  provided  that  teachers  following 
a  specified  course  of  study  for  three  years  and  passing  an 
examination  on  it  with  the  grade  of  75  per  cent,  should  be 
eligible  for  a  teacher's  certificate  of  higher  grade.  In  191 2 
special  courses  were  arranged  for  industrial  supervisors  and 
school  principals,  whose  attendance  is  now  more  definitely 
encouraged  by  the  General  Education  Board.  In  the  same 
year  the  scheme  was  extended  to  include  a  "Ministers' 
Conference."  This  extension  of  Hampton's  range  of 
service  has  not  only  lifted  the  level  of  instruction  through- 
out the  colored  schools  of  the  South,  but  has  had  the  re- 
ciprocal effect  of  communicating  the  ideals  of  Hampton  to 
teachers  and  supervisors  otherwise  unfamiliar  with  its 
work,  and  of  creating  a  new  constituency  of  sympathetic 
friends. 

191 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE' 

To  the  internal  incidents  which  mark  these  years  of 
fulfilment  must  be  added  the  expansion  of  the  influence 
of  Hampton  in  external  forms,  the  transmission  of  power 
through  young  men  and  women  who  had  been  trained  at 
Hampton  and  who  had  become — as  almost  all  gradu- 
ates became — teachers  of  their  own  race.  Throughout 
the  Southern  States,  to  important  and  well-organized 
schools,  and  to  obscure  and  remote  hamlets,  the  gradu- 
ates of  Hampton  from  year  to  year  set  forth  as  educational 
missionaries.  Of  the  723  students  who  in  the  first  twenty- 
two  years  had  received  its  diploma,  604  reported  them- 
selves as  teachers,  and  there  were  but  80  of  the  total 
number  who  had  not,  for  a  time  at  least,  given  them- 
selves to  this  vocation.  Nine  of  these  were  Indians,  leav- 
ing but  10  per  cent  of  the  Negro  graduates  who  failed  to 
transmit  the  instruction  they  had  received;  128  gradu- 
ates had  proceeded  to  further  study  after  leaving  Hampton, 
and  28  had  graduated  at  some  higher  school  or  college. 
Of  the  schools  thus  taught  by  Hampton  graduates  there 
were  265,  of  which  136  were  in  Virginia.*  In  1892  these- 
graduate-teachers  reported  that  of  their  pupils  2187  had 
become  in  their  turn  teachers,  so  that  the  self-propagating 
character  of  the  Hampton  training  had  reached  thousands 
of  lives  which  cannot  themselves  be  reckoned  among  the 
products  of  the  school. 

Among  these  children  and  grandchildren  of  Hampton 
the  first-born  and  the  most  distinguished  was  at  Tuskegee, 
to  which  centre  of  the  Black  Belt  of  Alabama,  Booker 

*  **  Twenty-two  Years'  Work  of  Hampton  Institute,"  1893,  pp.  293-295. 
192 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Washington  had  been  sent  in  1881.  The  story  of  his  work 
will  be  later  recalled,  but  the  story  of  his  own  career, 
which  has  become  one  of  the  most  familiar  epics  of  the 
modern  world,  must  be  associated  with  the  influence  of 
Hampton  Institute.  Passion  and  patience,  wisdom  and 
wit,  persistency  and  discretion,  marked  each  of  his  appeal- 
ing addresses  to  the  white  race,  and  each  achievement  of 
leadership  among  his  own  people.  His  sanity  of  mind 
was  sustained  by  a  complete  submergence  of  personal  am- 
bition in  his  task.  At  a  meeting  in  the  North  the  presid- 
ing officer  had  introduced  him  as  the  most  "distinguished 
citizen  of  the  United  States,"  and  as  he  left  the  hall  his 
companion  asked  :  "How  can  you  endure  compliments  so 
well?"  "Oh,"  answered  Washington,  "I  can  stand  any- 
thing for  the  cause  !"  Not  even  flattery  could  inflate  his 
self-esteem  or  relax  his  self-control.  He  could  endure  even 
praise  if  that  would  help  Tuskegee.  The  school  which  he 
founded  has  outstripped  Hampton  itself  in  numbers  and 
has  become  the  most  convincing  evidence  of  the  capacity 
of  the  Negro  race  for  self-government  and  for  judicious 
education.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that 
Hampton  discovered  and  developed  Washington.  Grop- 
ing his  way  from  a  coal-mine  in  West  Virginia ;  sleeping 
under  the  boards  of  a  sidewalk  in  Richmond  ;  qualified  to 
enter  Hampton  only  by  the  willingness  of  his  examiner  to 
accept  George  Herbert's  maxim  : — 

"Who  sweeps  a  room,  as  for  Thy  laws, 
Makes  that,  and  the  action,  fine ;  " — 

193 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

winning  his  way,  first  as  a  student,  then  as  a  "sort  of 
house-father  to  the  Indian  young  men,"  and  finally  as 
director  of  the  night  school,  in  which  young  Negroes  who 
had  worked  all  day  in  the  shop  or  field  might  study  at 
night,  winning  the  title  of  the  **  Plucky  Class," — Washing- 
ton became  more  and  more  the  trusted  agent  of  Arm- 
strong's plans  and  hopes;  and,  finally,  in  May  1881  was 
selected  to  undertake  a  new  and  difficult  enterprise  among 
the  most  backward  of  his  own  race. 

Nothing  in  the  two  men  is  more  remarkable  than  their 
loyalty  to  each  other.  One  of  Washington's  first  journeys 
to  the  North  after  his  appointment  at  Tuskegee  was  in 
obedience  to  a  summons  from  Armstrong,  and  the  pupil 
undertook  the  journey  with  the  anticipation  that  he  was 
to  speak  for  Hampton.  To  his  surprise,  however,  he  found 
that  Armstrong  had  sent  for  him  in  order  to  introduce  the 
new  work  to  Northern  audiences  and  to  urge  that  the 
friends  of  Hampton  should  be  the  friends  of  Tuskegee  also. 
On  the  other  hand,  among  the  finest  traits  of  Washing- 
ton's character  was  his  devotion  to  Armstrong  and  to 
Hampton.  Neither  personal  ambition  nor  the  increasing 
needs  of  Tuskegee  withheld  him  from  co-operation  in  the 
campaigns  of  money-getting  which  Hampton  conducted, 
or  from  the  repeated  confession  that  the  inspiration  of 
his  own  work  was  in  the  life  of  Armstrong.  *'It  has  been 
my  fortune,"  he  wrote,*  "to  meet  personally  many  of 
what  are  called  great  characters,  both  in  Europe  and 
America,  but  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  never  met  any 

*  "Up  from  Slavery,"  pp.  54-55. 
194 


HAMPTON'S   MOSr   DISTIN(JUISHEl)  (JRADUATK 
Booker  T.  Washington,  Founder  and  first  Principal  of   luskegee  Institute 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

man,  who,  in  my  estimation,  was  the  equal  of  General 
Armstrong.  Fresh  from  the  degrading  influences  of  the 
slave  plantation  and  the  coal-mines,  it  was  a  rare  privilege 
for  me  to  be  permitted  to  come  into  direct  contact  with 
such  a  character.  I  shall  always  remember  that  the 
first  time  I  went  into  his  presence  he  made  the  impres- 
sion upon  me  of  being  a  perfect  man ;  I  was  made  to 
feel  that  there  was  something  about  him  that  was  super- 
human. It  was  my  privilege  to  know  the  General  per- 
sonally from  the  time  I  entered  Hampton  till  he  died, 
and  the  more  I  saw  of  him  the  greater  he  grew  in  my 
estimation.  One  might  have  removed  from  Hampton  all 
the  buildings,  classrooms,  teachers,  and  industries,  and 
given  the  men  and  women  there  the  opportunity  of  coming 
into  daily  contacf  with  General  Armstrong,  and  that  alone 
would  have  been  a  liberal  education." 

Again,  speaking  with  deep  emotion  in  Boston  when 
Armstrong's  life  was  hanging  in  suspense:  "To  a  young 
man  just  emerging  from  slavery,  and  entering  into  the 
pure,  strong,  unselfish  influence  of  General  Armstrong's 
personality,  as  it  was  my  privilege  with  hundreds  of  others 
to  do,  there  came  all  at  once  a  new  idea  of  the  responsi- 
bihties  and  objects  of  life.  .  .  .  When  engaged  in  our 
own  work  in  the  South,  we  have  become  discouraged  by 
reason  of  the  many  difficulties  by  which  we  have  been  sur- 
rounded, the  mental  picture  of  General  Armstrong,  who 
knew  no  discouragement,  has  given  us  strength  to  go  on 
and  conquer.  When  we  have  been  incHned  to  yield  to  self- 
ish thoughts  and  live  for  ourselves,  it  has  been  the  vision 

I9S 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

of  General  Armstrong  who  lived  only  for  others  that  has 
made  us  ashamed  of  our  selfishness ;  and  when  we  have 
been  inclined  to  be  inactive  and  indifferent,  we  have 
thought  of  General  Armstrong  who  never  rested  day  or 
night,  winter  or  summer,  and  this  has  given  us  new  zeal." 

This  relationship,  as  between  the  Apostle  Paul  and  Tim- 
othy, **his  own  son  in  the  faith,"  remained  uninterrupted 
and  affectionate,  and  one  of  Armstrong's  last  and  most 
characteristic  letters  to  his  own  students  narrated  his 
impressions  of  a  visit  to  Tuskegee.  "The  greatest  thing 
about  it  [Tuskegee]  all  is  that  it  proves  what  colored  people 
can  do  by  themselves  when  they  have  the  chance  and 
when  they  pull  together.  .  .  .  White  people  have 
learned  to  trust  others.  They  know  that  to  live  together 
in  any  relation  of  life,  people  must  learn  to  give  and  take, 
live  and  let  live.  .  .  .  That  is  what  is  worth  living  for, 
to  do  good  to  others.  Live  for  your  people,  not  for  your- 
selves alone.  That  is  what  hundreds  who  have  gone  out 
from  here  have  done." 

In  September  1881  the  series  of  journeys  undertaken  by 
Armstrong  to  the  North  in  search  of  money  were  supple- 
mented by  the  first  of  many  visits  to  the  reservations  of 
the  West  in  search  of  students.  With  thirty-two  return- 
ing Indians,  Armstrong  left  Hampton  for  Dakota.  They 
had  arrived  three  years  before  on  the  steamer  from 
Washington,  "unkempt,  frightened,  and  huddled  in  cor- 
ners of  the  deck,"  and  were  now  returning  "well-dressed 
boys  and  girls,  one  playing  the  piano  while  all  sang,  and 
later  gathering  on  the  forward  deck  to  sing  hymns  in  the 
196 


THE   STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

moonlight."  Of  the  forty-nine  Indians  who  had  origi- 
nally been  enrolled,  five  had  died  at  Hampton,  eight  after 
returning  home,  two  had  remained  at  Hampton  to  con- 
tinue their  education,  and  thirty  after  their  three  years  at 
Hampton  were  returning  to  the  reservation  "in  good 
mental,  moral,  and  bodily  condition."  Only  four  were 
regarded  as  undesirable  students  and  dismissed  as  fail- 
ures. Armstrong  returned  with  twenty-nine  new  stu- 
dents, twenty-two  boys  and  seven  girls,  "in  good  health 
and  spirits,"  and  in  recording  his  impressions  of  the  jour- 
ney wrote  :  "The  best  kind  of  missionary  work  is  as  broad 
as  human  life,  and  is  to  be  expected,  not  from  men  whom 
the  East  can  spare,  but  from  men  whom  the  East  cannot 
spare.  The  Indian  Question  is  more  one  of  men  than  of 
money,  or  of  Acts  of  Congress.  The  Government  is  as 
good  as  the  people  will  let  it  be ;  to  scold  about  the  Indian 
policy  is  idle  and  useless.  There  is  need  of  combined 
effort  which  shall  press  upon  our  legislators  their  duty  to 
the  red  race,  and  of  systematic  and  persistent  work  at 
their  own  homes.  This  demands  a  degree  of  personal 
sacrifice  and  of  personal  service  that  is  far  from  appre- 
ciated." 

A  second  journey  followed,  in  1882,  to  the  country  of 
the  Sioux,  Crow,  Shoshone,  and  Bannock  Indians,  in 
Dakota,  Montana,  and  Idaho,  and  again  Armstrong  re- 
cords his  impressions.  "The  point  of  the  Indian  Question 
I  believe  to  be  honesty  and  capacity  in  dealing  with  them. 
There  is  nothing  rash  in  saying  that  if  the  Indian  Ques- 
tion were  taken  out  of  politics  and  placed  in  the  hands 

197 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

of  competent  men  with  full  discretion,  there  would  be  in 
ten  years  very  few  dependent  on  the  Government."  A 
third  and  extended  tour  of  seven  weeks  occupied  the  sum- 
mer of  1883,  and  carried  Armstrong  through  New  Mexico, 
Arizona,  and  the  Indian  Territory ;  and  on  his  return  he 
set  before  the  Indian  Rights  Association  his  programme  of 
national  policy : — 

1.  Manual-labor  training  in  mechanical  trades 

2.  Instruction  in  practical  farming 

3.  Bringing  all  Indians  under  the  restraint  and  pro- 
tection of  the  United  States  and  State  laws,  and  to 
citizenship  as  rapidly  as  possible,  by  giving  them 
land  in  severalty 

4.  Adequate  salaries  to  secure  good  and  competent 
agents 

5.  Appropriations  to  secure  the  detection  and  pun- 
ishment of  those  who  sell  liquor  to  the  Indians. 

In  more  general  terms  he  presented  the  same  thoughts 
to  the  National  Educational  Association  in  1884.  "My 
own  view  is  that  Indians  at  our  Eastern  schools,  who,  to 
begin  with,  have  a  strong  home  feeling  and  filial  affection, 
and  would  seldom  consent  to  settle  permanently  among 
strangers,  should  be  taught  that  they  have  a  duty  to  their 
people ;  that  education  is  more  than  preparation  for  their 
own  support  and  decent  living,  but  that  they  have  a  great 
work,  which  they  must  begin  by  writing  home  good  ad- 
vice (which  in  many  cases  has  had  good  effect)  and  must 
expect  to  return  to  teach  by  precept  and  example  the 
198 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

more  excellent  way.  Our  Hampton  pupils  are  already 
inspired  with  this  idea ;  it  is  the  staple  talk  of  their  meet- 
ings and  runs  through  their  compositions,  little  speeches, 
and  short  prayers.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  educator  as 
well  as  the  educated  is  kindled  by  this  thought.  The 
former  feels  that  his  work  is  germinant,  to  be  probably 
repeated  many  times  upon  others  by  the  pupil  before  him, 
who  himself  is  stimulated  by  the  thought  of  helping  his 
own  benighted  people.  I  regard  the  idea  of  a  mission  in 
the  mind  of  an  Indian,  Negro,  or  any  youth,  as  a  directive 
and  helpful  force  of  the  greatest  value  in  the  formation 
of  character.  .  .  .  Are  the  influences  at  home  necessarily 
fatal  ?  Can  conditions  be  created  favorable  enough  for 
their  salvation  while  they  are  with  their  people,  thus 
making  them  object  lessons  in  Christian  civilization,  which 
the  Indians  have  so  sadly  needed  ?  It  is  a  matter  of  ex- 
periment or  experience.  I  believe  it  can  be  done.  To 
offset  bad  home  influences,  three  things  will,  I  believe,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  suffice:  ist,  Good  Indian  agents 
.  .  .  2d,  Schools  at  the  agencies,  which  with  the  shops, 
are  furnishing  an  increasing  field  of  work  for  returned 
Indian  students  .  .  .  3d,  Good  missionaries.  .  .  .  With 
capable  and  well-sustained  Indian  agents,  and  a  proper 
missionary  force  on  the  ground,  there  need  not  be  serious 
disaster  to  the  Indian  youths  who  return  home  from  our 
Eastern  schools  to  many  of  the  reservations.  .  .  . 

"It  may  be  said :  *Must  the  Government  keep  an  ex- 
pensive system  to  give  employment  to  these  youths  ?  *  It 
certainly  should  continue  the  school  work.     The  reserva- 

199 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

tions  will  ere  long  be  broken  up  or  reduced  and  the 
Government  shops  closed.  But  large  numbers  will  re- 
ceive land  in  severalty,  and  in  this  advancing  stage  will 
no  shops  and  mechanics  be  needed  among  them  ?  Nothing 
is  more  important  than  to  establish  a  force  of  Indian  me- 
chanics at  once,  in  advance  if  possible  of  this  radical 
change ;  nothing  could  be  greater  folly  than  to  keep  back 
skilled  Indian  labor  from  the  reservations,  which  if  em- 
ployed steadily  will  improve  till  thrown  upon  itself.  .  .  . 
All  men,  white,  black,  or  red,  on  our  continent  are  engaged 
in  a  physical  and  moral  struggle.  Christian  institutions 
can  save  them  by  training  selected  youths  for  their  leaders. 
The  annual  re-enforcement  from  schools  and  colleges  sent 
yearly  into  the  midst  of  this  struggle,  is  the  hope  of  the 
races  and  of  the  nation.  Pour  into  Indian  life  men  and 
women  of  better  lives,  living  illustrations  of  what  their 
people  should  be ;  create  the  conditions  which  shall  make 
manhood  and  citizenship  possible,  and  there  will  be  in  a 
few  years  no  Indian  Question." 

No  one  can  read  these  incisive  and  vivacious  impres- 
sions of  travel  without  perceiving  in  them  a  twofold  con- 
sequence for  the  writer.  On  the  one  hand  there  is  a  sense 
of  exhilaration  and  momentum,  as  of  a  life  at  full  speed ; 
but  on  the  other  hand  there  is  an  increasing  evidence  of 
over-pressure  and  of  strained  vitality,  which  prophesies 
a  career  to  be  soon  cut  short.  Writing  to  a  friend  in  Hon- 
olulu, he  says  :  "The  work  piles  up  like  Alps  on  Alps,  but 
there  is  a  stimulus  in  it  that  I  like,  and  I  wish  you  could 
realize  what  it  is  to  be  in  and  a  part  of  all  these  move- 

200 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

ments.  Life  is  so  full  of  life.  It  seems  dramatic,  with  all 
its  grinding  detail  and  vexation.  So  much  depends  on  the 
liver !  The  soul  of  a  saint  and  the  body  of  a  prize  fighter 
are  needed.  One  must  sometimes  stop  and  seek  the 
solace  of  quiet  prayer,  and  again  take  up  the  foil  and  gloves 
in  mimic  battle."  And,  again,  to  a  friend  in  Boston  :  "I 
wish  I  could  go  to  see  you,  but  things  press  fearfully. 
No  rest  this  side !  Life  is  on  the  Mouble-quick.'"  And 
yet  again :  "  I  am  gray  as  a  rat ;  somewhat  worn,  and 
without  enough  real  rest  and  don't  know  how  to  get  it. 
Eternal  effort  is  the  price  of  success."  The  first  physical 
intimation  that  this  "life  on  the  double-quick"  could  not 
long  last  was  in  August  1886,  when  a  sudden  and  sharp 
attack  of  pain  indicated  a  serious  condition  of  the 
heart ;  and  an  invalidism  of  some  months  ensued.  In 
November,  however,  Armstrong  was  able  to  resume  his 
activity,  and  the  cloud  of  apprehension  passed  from  the 
minds  of  his  friends. 

Surveying  these  years  of  fulfilment,  which  were  in  the 
main  a  period  of  unimpeded  progress,  Armstrong  from 
time  to  time  permitted  his  mind  to  range  over  the  whole 
field  of  its  work  and  to  express  his  philosophy  of  life  and 
education  in  aphorisms  which  are  still  as  timely  as  they 
are  striking.  "More  and  more,"  he  said  in  his  Report 
of  October  1884,  "I  believe  in  Labor  as  a  Moral  Force. 
While  its  pecuniary  return  to  the  student  is  important, 
and  the  acquired  skill  is  equivalent  to  a  working  capital, 
the  outcome  of  it  in  manly  and  womanly  quaHty  is,  in 
the  long  run,  perhaps  the  most  valuable  of  all."     "The 

201 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

black  man,  like  other  men,  finds  it  hard  to  see  himself 
as  he  is  seen.  In  the  first  excitement  of  freedom  his  true 
condition  did  not  appear.  He  is  kindly  disposed  but  lacks 
right  intuitions,  or  common  sense.  Wisdom  will  come  to 
him,  as  it  comes  to  all,  through  suffering  and  loss.  He 
will  learn  more  by  his  blunders  than  in  any  other  way. 
Even  the  white  man  is  not  yet  through  his  blundering 
period,"  "They  are  getting  out  of  pupilage  and  are  in 
the  second  and  most  difficult  stage  of  progress.  .  .  . 
They  are  thrust  into  a  Hfe  of  action  and  reaction ;  they  will 
have  some  rough  justice  and  some  rough  injustice,  but,  we 
believe,  the  'pillar  of  cloud'  is  still  before  them."  "'The 
solid  South'  is  not  so  bad  as  the  sordid  South.  The 
choicest  lands  and  homesteads  of  those  who  staked  their 
all  in  the  struggle,  have  been,  in  numberless  cases,  bought 
by  speculators,  whose  greed  of  gain  has  had  more  to  do 
with  the  distress  of  the  Negro  than  race  prejudice  has, 
and  has  driven  many  of  the  finest  people  of  the  South 
into  great  extremities. 

"The  advantage  of  the  white  man  over  the  Negro 
is  not,  I  think,  in  his  ability  to  learn  much  more  or  be- 
have much  better.  ...  In  an  emergency  he  is  heroic; 
he  is  as  capable  as  any  man  of  subHme  action.  .  .  . 
But  it  takes  pressure  to  bring  him  out;  he  is  not  as 
a  rule  self-active.  His  best  is  good  enough.  .  .  .  Real 
progress  is  not  in  increase  of  wealth  or  power,  but  in  gain 
in  wisdom,  in  self-control,  in  guiding  principles  and  in 
Christian  ideas.  That  is  the  only  true  reconstruction ; 
to  that   Hampton's   work   is   devoted.    The   future  of 

202 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

the  South  is  not  to  be  as  its  past,  and  the  Negro  has  no 
guarantee  to  his  place  within  her  borders  unless  he  can 
make  good  his  claim  by  showing  himself  to  be  an  essential 
factor  in  her  development.  Back  of  any  theory  lies 
a  personal  experience,  which  forces  us  more  and  more 
strongly  into  faith  in  the  as  yet  unmeasured  power  for  good 
which  a  well-administered  industrial  system  exerts  over 
those  who  either  by  choice  or  by  necessity  are  brought 
under  its  influence.  Setting  aside  altogether  what  may 
be  called  its  commercial  value,  we  find  it  to  be  one  of  the 
strongest  of  moral  forces  that  we  have  at  our  disposal  and 
are  inclined  to  look  upon  it  as  the  cornerstone  of  civili- 
zation for  the  two  races  with  which  we  have  to  do." 

This  fundamental  principle  of  self-help  induced  Arm- 
strong in  1888  to  oppose  the  movement  promoted  in  Con- 
gress by  Senator  Blair  of  New  Hampshire  for  national  aid 
to  education.  Devoted  as  Armstrong  had  been  to  the 
elevation  of  the  Negro  race  from  dependency  and  mendi- 
cancy to  individual  initiative  and  competency,  he  could 
not  welcome  as  a  permanent  measure  that  governmental 
paternalism  of  which  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  had  been  a 
temporary  example.  "There  may  be  cases,"  he  said, 
"where  special  assistance  is  not  only  legitimate,  but  essen- 
tial to  the  best  and  speediest  development.  ...  It  is 
sometimes  wise  to  make  exceptions.  .  .  .  But  if  we  can 
trust  the  indications,  the  South  has,  to  the  surprise  even 
of  those  who  knew  her  best,  passed  safely  through  the 
crisis  which,  we  believed,  threatened  her  life.  By  how 
much  she  would  have  gained  had  assistance  been  given 

203 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

at  the  right  moment,  no  man  can  tell.  But  visibly,  to 
me  at  least,  the  right  moment  has  gone  by,  and  it  is  safer 
to  trust  to  the  forces  which  have  already  accomplished 
so  much,  than  to  attempt,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  the  always 
dangerous  experiment  of  interference.  The  Southern 
States  have  shown  that  they  can  take  care  of  themselves, 
and  we  draw  our  conclusions  precisely  as  we  should  were 
the  case  that  of  an  individual."  Armstrong,  in  short, 
was  primarily  concerned,  not  with  economic  progress,  but 
with  moral  education.  He  was  interested,  not  in  the 
making  of  money,  but  in  the  making  of  men,  and  his  mind 
inevitably  turned  from  devices  of  government  or  cen- 
tralized control,  which  might  induce  an  unearned  pros- 
perity, to  the  less  conspicuous  but  less  ephemeral  task  of 
creating  characters,  which  through  personal  industry, 
intelligence,  and  thrift,  could  both  win  and  deserve  pros- 
perity. 

Still  more  definite  and  systematic  were  the  reflections 
made  in  Armstrong's  Reports  for  1887  and  the  following 
years,  in  which  his  anticipations  of  the  future  are  touched 
by  an  intimation  that  his  own  time  was  short.  "No 
sound,  good  work  ever  got  permanently  weakened  or  went 
backward  for  want  of  a  man.  ...  I  have  been  pained 
to  hear  of  doubts  as  to  the  future  of  this  institution. 
Experience  and  intelligent  faith  do  not  seem  to  justify 
them.  .  .  .  The  man  for  the  hour  is  never  far  away  when 
the  hour  comes."  "An  endowment  fund  of  a  million 
dollars,"  he  announces  in  1890,  "would  not  be  too  much 
to  ask  for  a  strong  and  lasting  foundation  of  the  Hampton 
204 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

School,  which  stands  permanently  for  the  idea  of  Labor 
as  a  moral  and  educative  force." 

The  sanity,  poise,  and  foresight  of  these  hastily  ex- 
pressed, but  carefully  meditated,  conclusions  give  them 
a  permanent  place  in  the  literature  of  education,  and 
they  become  more  remarkable  when  one  recalls  the  im- 
petuous and  aggressive  temperament  of  their  author.  To 
hold  a  passionate  nature  in  leash  and  add  to  its  mag- 
netic energy  the  gift,  which  in  reformers  is  most  rare, 
of  unperturbed  and  unexhausted  patience, — this  is  a 
fusion  of  traits  which  gives  to  its  possessor  the  quality 
of  greatness. 

The  Civil  War  had  produced  many  leaders  endowed 
with  fearlessness  and  daring,  and  some  who  were  distin- 
guished for  prudence  and  moderation,  but  in  few,  except  in 
Lincoln  himself,  were  these  conflicting  qualities  merged  in 
a  unity  of  spirit  which  could  prosecute  war  with  unyielding 
tenacity,  while  cherishing  plans  of  conciliation  and  peace. 
The  period  after  the  Civil  War  was  an  open  season  for 
reformers.  Reconstruction  at  the  South,  civil  rights  for 
the  Negro,  constitutional  amendments,  fresh  agitations 
for  temperance,  sufl^rage,  redistribution  of  property,  and 
economic  revolution, — these  social  panaceas  testified  to 
the  restlessness  of  the  time,  and  enhsted  the  enthusiasm 
of  many  precipitate  philanthropists.  Reconstruction, 
Armstrong  once  said,  was  like  a  bridge  of  wood  over  a  river 
of  fire.  New  perils,  he  prophesied,  confronted  the  Negro 
race  as  it  emerged  from  the  period  of  governmental  pater- 
nalism into  the  period  of  reaction  and  distress.     "The 

205 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

War,"  he  wrote,  "was  a  tremendous  and  resolute  struggle 
which  everybody  realized  and  responded  to.  The  redemp- 
tion of  the  Negro — its  objective  point,  though  hardly  less 
important  was  the  rescue  of  the  whites  from  the  evils  of 
slavery — is  an  almost  unseen  work,  understood  by  few. 
.  .  .  Some  of  our  writers  and  thinkers  seem  to  feel  that  it 
is  possible  to  seize  these  seven  millions  of  Negroes,  wave 
them  over  their  heads,  and  fling  them  away ;  others  would 
crush  them  by  disfranchisement.  But  we  still  have  the 
steady  workers  .  .  .  whose  incessant  efforts  to  train 
the  head,  heart,  and  hand  of  selected  Indian  and  Negro 
youth,  will,  I  believe,  create  a  new  leaven  that  will  finally 
shape  the  course  of  the  races.  .  .  .  By  faith  only  can  we 
be  assured,  and  this  faith  rests  upon  our  absolute  certainty 
of  the  capacity  of  these  people  for  improvement,  and  our 
conviction  that  their  progress  is  only  a  question  of  time 
and  effort.  The  hope  for  the  Negro  is  in  his  own  hope- 
fulness." 

In  the  midst  of  the  waves  of  well-intentioned  but  futile 
agitation  which  were  tossed  up  by  the  shifting  winds  of 
the  time,  these  principles  and  methods  of  Hampton  Insti- 
tute stood  like  a  rock  on  which  a  light  might  be  safely  set. 
Education,  to  be  effective  for  life,  must  be,  like  the  conduct 
of  life  itself,  both  alert  and  patient,  beginning  where  people 
are,  and  creating  character  rather  than  comfort,  goodness 
rather  than  goods.  It  must  be  won  rather  than  given, 
and  based  on  faith  in  labor  as  a  moral  force ;  it  must  in- 
spire the  will  to  serve  rather  than  the  will  to  get ;  it  must 
be  a  struggle,  not  for  life  alone,  but  for  the  lives  of  others. 
206 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

These  high  doctrines  of  idealism  became,  and  have  always 
remained,  the  working  creed  of  Hampton,  and  the  light 
set  on  this  rock  has  shown  to  thousands  of  discouraged 
and  storm-driven  Negroes  and  Indians  an  open  channel  to 
security  and  peace. 


207 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 

THE    END    OF    AN    ERA    (1890-1893) 

GENERAL  ARMSTRONG'S  work  had  in  twenty  years 
not  only  become  established  in  its  institutional  form,  but 
had  received  public  and  academic  recognition.  He  was 
created  LL.D.  at  Williams  College  in  1887  and  at  Harvard 
University  in  1889.  His  marriage  on  September  10,  1890, 
to  Miss  Mary  Alice  Ford  of  Lisbon,  New  Hampshire, 
a  former  teacher  at  Hampton,  renewed  his  happiness 
and  blessed  his  last  years,  not  only  with  devoted  com- 
panionship, but  with  two  children  who  were  his  solace 
and  delight.  What  he  had  written  at  the  close  of  the 
war  might  have  been  repeated  by  him  at  this  point  of 
achievement  and  honor.  "These  are  mellow  and  pleas- 
ant days — the  last  of  my  soldiering ;  how  smoothly  they 
glide  along !  Other  times  will  come  that  will  test  my 
courage  and  faith.  Let  it  be  so.  *  After  the  contest, 
the  crown,*  is  my  class  motto — and  a  noble  one  it 
is." 

The  first  attack  of  illness  had  not  undermined  his 
vitality,  and  he  formed  many  resolutions  of  prudent  liv- 
ing, which  he  soon  found  impossible  to  keep.  "God  will- 
ing," he  wrote,  "I  shall  be  better  and  stronger  for  this. 
...  I  have  been  a  most  intemperate  man  all  my  life 
208 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

— wasteful  of  strength  and  vitality.  .  .  .  My  own  folly 
is  the  danger.  But  there  are  so  many  reasons  for  being 
wise  and  careful,  such  inspirations  for  the  paths  of  pru- 
dence and  real  temperance  that  I'll  try  my  best,  needing 
more  than  I  can  tell  you  that  peace  and  strength  and 
help  that  God  only  gives."  New  allies  of  permanent 
importance  had  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  school  and 
the  young  Chaplain  had  relieved  his  Chief  of  many  details 
both  of  supervision  and  of  money-getting.  "I  cannot 
speak  too  heartily  and  gratefully,"  wrote  Armstrong  in 
1892,  *'of  the  devoted  and  successful  eflForts  of  Rev. 
H.  B.  Frissell,  Vice-Principal,  on  whom  has  fallen  during 
the  current  year,  through  my  disability,  a  great  burden 
of  work  and  care." 

In  1 891  his  work  was  so  firmly  estabHshed  that  Arm- 
strong permitted  himself  a  second  visit  to  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  on  June  25  delivered  there  a  memorial  ad- 
dress at  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Oahu  College,  where 
he  had  been  a  student.  No  utterance  represents  more 
adequately  the  working  of  Armstrong's  mind  than  this 
important  address.  He  had  undertaken  the  long  journey 
for  the  sake  of  this  occasion,  and  he  appreciated  both  its 
historical  significance  and  its  personal  associations.  Dur- 
ing the  quiet  days  on  the  Pacific  he  must  have  applied 
himself  to  painstaking  preparation.  Yet  when  the  day 
arrived  his  formal  oratory  seems  to  have  been  forgotten 
in  the  passionate  desire  to  re-establish  personal  intimacy 
with  his  dear  friends,  and  to  report  to  them  the  lessons 
which  he  had   learned.      His   language   became  abrupt, 

209 


EDUCATION  FOR   LIFE 

volcanic,  and  unpremeditated.  It  was  defective  in 
literary  form,  but  burning  with  fraternal  affection,  a 
message  rather  than  an  oration,  the  eager  report  of  a 
returning  missionary  rather  than  the  historical  survey  of 
an  academic  work.  He  had  not  come  that  they  might 
exchange  sentimental  reminiscences,  but  that  they  might 
have  more  abundant  life.  Compact  and  cogent  aphorisms 
followed  each  other  with  as  little  logical  order  as  in  an 
essay  of  Emerson,  but  with  something  of  the  same  spar- 
kling lucidity  and  incisive  thrust. 

"In  this  as  in  every  country,"  he  said,  "the  future  is 
safe  and  sure  only  as  the  educated  and  rich  shall  act  out 
the  principles  expressed  in  'Noblesse  oblige.'  There  is 
no  modem  civilization  for  a  leisure  class ;  it  is  as  danger- 
ous as  the  lowest  class.  There  is  no  elevation  for  those 
who  do  not  work.  .  .  .  You  will  get  what  you  work 
for — if  for  money,  you  are  likely  to  get  that ;  but  do 
not  complain  if  you  do  not  get  other  things  that  make 
home  and  country  safer  and  better,  unless  you  work 
for  them.  .  .  .  Never  forget  that  the  man  who  does 
not  vote  is  even  more  dangerous  than  the  man  who 
does,  for  little  or  nothing  will  be  done  to  improve  him. 
.  .  .  When  nothing  else  will,  danger  drives  us  to  ful- 
fil our  duty  to  the  ignorant  and  lowly.  .  .  .  Only  the 
best  and  broadest  education  and  the  wisest  treatment 
of  her  mixed  peoples  will  save  Hawaii.  .  .  . 

"  It  remains  to  make  the  best  of  things.  Those  who  are 
hopeless  disarm  themselves  and  may  as  well  go  to  the 
rear;    men  and  women  of  faith,  optimists,  to  the  front. 

210 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

.  .  .  Do  men  give  more  money  to  good  work  when  they 
make  the  most  or  when  they  think  the  most  ?  For  twenty- 
three  years  I  have  worked  for  a  charity,  through  two 
national  panics  and  through  prosperous  seasons,  but  the 
times  have  made  very  Httle  difference.  Nothing  extra 
is  to  be  expected  for  the  Lord's  work  in  'flush'  times,  and 
a  certain  fine  spirit  carries  it  through  the  darkest  days. 
.  .  .  The  power  to  think  clearly  and  straight  comes  from 
proper  training,  but  it  is  most  successful  when  that  train- 
ing is  obtained  through  self-help,  which  underlies  the  best 
work  of  all  men.  ...  I  have  given  enough  advice. 
What  will  you  do  about  it  ?  I  have  seldom  followed 
advice  implicitly,  which  is  sometimes  the  best  and  some- 
times the  worst  thing  in  the  world,  according  to  the  good 
sense  of  the  giver ;  but  it  has  been  to  me  of  unspeakable 
value  as  stimulating  thought  and  has  led  to  much  change 
of  direction.  One  'caroms'  on  it,  as  one  biUiard  ball 
does  on  another.  .  .  .  Let  this  College  be  more  and 
more  a  power  in  Hawaiian  life.  ...  If  you  say  there  is 
no  time  for  the  work,  then  take  the  time.  From  this 
centre  of  industrial  education,  why  should  there  not  go 
out  instruction  that  would  reach  hundreds  of  children 
all  over  the  land .?  .  .  .  Look  out  that  no  one  of  you 
becomes  a  'man  without  a  country,'  a  half-hearted  Ha- 
waiian, a  half-hearted  American  or  European.  Plant 
the  stake  of  your  destiny  somewhere  and  fight  it  out." 

Revived  in  vitality  by  this  happy  visitation  of  his  old 
home,  and  reassured  by  evidences  of  efficiency  at  Hampton 
itself,  Armstrong   started  in  November  1891  on  another 

211 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

journey  of  money-getting  at  the  North,  taking  with  him 
a  quartette  of  Negro  singers  and  two  Indians  who  had 
appeahng  stories  to  tell.  His  schedule  of  speaking  and 
travel  called  at  more  than  one  point  for  four  meetings 
a  day.  On  Thanksgiving  Day,  November  20,  at  Stone- 
ham,  Massachusetts,  a  small  town  near  Boston,  his  speech 
suddenly  faltered  and  he  sank  into  the  arms  of  his 
black  pupils,  paralyzed  and  with  paroxysms  of  great 
agony.  His  mind,  however,  was  unaffected  and  he 
proceeded  calmly  to  give  his  orders  for  an  uninterrupted 
campaign. 

Sympathy  and  sorrow  quickly  found  expression.  The 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  and  other  citizens 
summoned  a  gathering  at  the  Old  South  Meeting  House 
in  Boston,  where  a  series  of  notable  addresses  culminated 
in  the  discerning  and  appealing  words  of  Phillips  Brooks  : 
"One  has  had  the  feehng  during  this  hour  that  we  have  been 
a  company  of  friends,  gathered  in  the  presence — though 
the  unseen  presence — of  one  whom  we  profoundly  love, 
deeply  trust,  and  to  whom  we  would  gladly  speak  a 
word  of  sympathy.  Never  were  the  man  and  the  work 
more  completely  identical  with  one  another.  It  is  im- 
possible to  think  of  one  apart  from  the  other.  Therefore 
every  word  that  has  been  said  today  about  the  great 
institution  with  which  he  is  forever  identified,  has  brought 
our  thoughts  back  to  him  and  deepened  and  intensified 
the  affection  with  which  we  think  of  him.  I  am  anxious 
that  this  should  be  not  simply  a  meeting  filled  with  a 
sense  of  pity  for  General  Armstrong.  If  there  is  any 
212 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

man  in  this  country  to  be  congratulated  upon  the  life 
which  he  has  Hved  and  the  work  which  he  has  done,  it  is 
he.  It  has  been  given  him  to  lay  a  firmer  grasp  upon  the 
problem  which  specially  confronts  and  has  particularly 
appalled  our  country  than  any  other  man.  He  has  been 
a  later  Garrison,  a  later  Lincoln,  carrying  far  forward 
the  work  the  old  emancipators  began.  He  has  taught 
men  the  glory  and  the  beauty  and  the  happiness  of  being 
stewards  of  the  Lord.  Is  there  anything  better  given  to 
a  man,  than  to  strike  down  to  some  of  the  great  currents 
in  human  life  and  say  to  them.  Spring  up  here !  Lives 
fail  because  they  have  so  many  things  to  do  that  they 
cannot  associate  themselves  with  general  principles,  or 
because  they  are  so  bound  up  in  vague  principles  that  they 
find  no  special  thing  to  do.  But  to  find  the  special  thing 
to  do,  to  feel  that  you  are  giving  utterance  to  universal 
principles  by  which  all  good  manifests  itself — there  is 
nothing  better  than  that.  So  I  was  not  surprised  one 
day  when  I  heard  that  General  Armstrong  had  said  that 
he  had  come  nearer  to  accomplishing  the  ideal  of  his  life 
than  was  given  to  almost  any  man.  Let  us  tell  him  how 
we  rejoice  with  him.  And  if  it  be  so  that  from  this  door 
of  the  great  mystery  into  which  it  seemed  that  he  was 
just  going  to  enter,  God  has  called  him  back  to  live  a 
little  longer  and  work  a  little  more,  let  us  not  come 
merely  with  pity  to  console  him  by  the  contributions  we 
can  make,  but  let  us  offer  him  our  hearts,  our  hands,  and 
our  purses,  and  beg  him  to  give  us  the  privilege  of  sharing 
with  him  the  life  which  God  has  given  back  to  him." 

213 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

A  "Boston  Committee"  was  thereupon  constituted, 
and  has  been  for  nearly  thirty  years  a  continuous  source 
of  beneficent  service. 

Slowly,  though  but  partially,  Armstrong's  vitality  re- 
asserted itself,  and  he  was  carried,  still  helpless,  back  to 
Hampton,  "cast  down  but  not  destroyed,"  and  sending 
before  him  a  letter  to  his  students  signed  in  his  own  hand, 
and  saying,  "What  has  happened  to  me  is  for  the  best,  as 
everything  always  is."  The  school  now  had  to  greet, 
instead  of  an  alert  and  untiring  leader,  a  broken  man, 
making  his  tours  of  inspection  in  a  wheel-chair,  but  with 
unscathed  vigor  of  mind  and  undiminished  courage ;  and 
the  spectacle  of  this  victory  of  the  spirit  over  the  flesh 
was  to  many  of  the  susceptible  youths  about  him  more 
irresistible  in  its  teaching  than  even  the  buoyant  optimism 
of  his  robust  health. 

New  schemes  and  hopes  opened  before  him  and  called 
for  haste  in  their  fulfilment.  He  established  a  Mission- 
ary Department  to  promote  both  pastoral  work  within 
the  school  and  friendly  co-operation  with  the  community. 
"If  the  Hampton  School,"  Armstrong  wrote  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  his  Trustees,  "is  anything,  it  is  a  missionary  work, 
for  the  spread  of  the  truths  of  clean  Christian  living  among 
the  Negroes  of  the  South  and  the  Indians  of  the  West. 
Its  large  force  of  graduate-workers  already  in  the  field 
need  visitation,  instruction,  and  proper  help  from  time 
to  time,  and  especially  stimulus  and  encouragement  to 
keep  them  from  falHng  back.  .  .  .  While  I  have  reason 
to  hope  for  complete  recovery  in  eight  or  ten  months  from 
214 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

now  and  expect  fully  to  go  on  the  warpath  again,  this 
campaign  of  education  must  meanwhile  go  on." 

He  was  further  encouraged  by  the  establishment  in  New 
York,  in  1892,  of  an  "  Armstrong  Association,"  which,  like 
the  Hampton  Committee  in  Boston,  continues  to  represent 
and  re-enforce  the  school.  Armstrong's  Report  of  1892, 
though  confessing  his  own  disability,  repeats  this  note  of 
satisfaction  :  "For  the  first  time  since  the  school  opened 
in  1868  I  have  been  unable  to  regularly  meet  and  talk  to 
students  and  to  instruct  the  Senior  Class  through  the 
winter  months.  This  failure  has  been  my  greatest  dis- 
appointment and  trial,  for  daily  touch  with  pupils  either 
at  the  hour  of  evening  service  or  in  the  classroom  has  been 
my  constant  inspiration  and  comfort.  Whatever  good 
may  have  come  to  them  from  this  personal  relation,  I  have 
got  out  of  it  more  than  they  have.  Whatever  one  may 
do  for  the  cause  of  truth  and  humanity,  he  receives  more 
than  tenfold  in  return." 

His  last  Report  (1893),  surveys  as  with  a  large  horizon 
the  scene  of  his  achievement  and  his  desire.  "When  at 
the  close  of  the  war,  twenty-eight  years  ago,  four  millions 
of  ignorant  Afro-Americans  were  thrown  upon  their  own 
resources  and  upon  the  country's  care,  our  civilization 
received  its  severest  test,  and  there  was  the  added  strain 
of  disbanding  armies  and  broken-up  social  and  economic 
conditions.  But,  naturally  and  quietly  as  the  rivers 
flow  to  the  sea,  the  soldiers  of  both  armies  went  to  their 
homes,  and  to  steady,  manly  living ;  war  horses  pulled  the 
plow ;  the  ex-slaves  went  to  work  or  to  school  as  they  had 

215 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

the  opportunity;  and  a  *New  South,'  based  on  order, 
industry,  and  general  justice  and  intelligence,  has  nobly 
developed.  The  four  millions  of  freedmen  have  become 
nearly  eight  millions  of  people,  having  made  a  marvellous 
record  of  progress  in  the  quarter-century  closing  in  1893. 

"How  clear  now  to  all  is  the  Providential  idea  that  the 
great  Civil  War  meant  not  only  the  welfare  and  progress 
of  one  race,  but  of  the  entire  nation,  and  of  mankind. 
Only  in  the  remote  future  will  its  far-reaching  intent  and 
bearing  as  an  education  be  understood.  The  following 
facts  set  forth  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  at  Washington, 
were  foreshadowed  and  predestined,  but  not  yet  dreamed 
of,  when,  in  1862,  the  American  Missionary  Association 
of  New  York  opened  the  first  school  for  slave  children  at 
Hampton,  Va.  Then  there  were  no  Negro  schools  in  the 
land;  now  there  are  24,150,  nearly  all  under  Negro 
teachers.  A  million  and  a  third  children  are  at  school; 
there  are  175  schools  above  the  primary  or  common  grade, 
in  which  there  are  35,000  children  and  131 1  select  North- 
ern teachers  giving  an  advanced  grade  of  instruction. 

"  Over  two  million  colored  children  have  learned  to  read 
and  write,  in  a  public-school  system  as  firmly  established 
in  the  ex-slave  as  in  the  Northern  States,  supported  by 
local  taxation,  whose  total,  since  1870,  has  not  been  far 
from  fifty  millions  of  dollars ;  now  at  the  rate  of  eleven 
millions  a  year.  Northern  charity  since  1862,  for  the 
same  purpose,  may  be  estimated  at  twenty-five  millions 
of  dollars;  now  at  the  rate  of  about  a  million  dollars 
yearly. 
216 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON   INSTITUTE 

"  From  utter  poverty  in  1865  the  ex-slaves  have  accumu- 
lated to  the  present  time,  over  two  hundred  miUion  dollars 
worth  of  property.  Getting  land  and  knowledge  has 
been  their  passion ;  they  have  not  thrown  a  pauper  upon 
the  nation ;  while  for  their  education  but  a  paltry  three 
and  a  half  million  of  dollars  of  government  money  has 
been  expended — this  through  the  Freedmen's  Bureau 
before  1870,  with  the  happiest  results.  As  a  race,  the 
colored  people  of  the  country  ask  for  nothing  by  way  of 
bounty  and  for  no  material  or  political  advantages. 
They  ask  only  for  a  fair  chance.  They  never  beg  for 
anything  but  a  chance  to  work  their  way  through  school. 
Such  applications  are  overwhelming;  some  must  be 
rejected  for  want  of  room.  The  young  Negro  woman  is 
the  most  needy  and  unfortunate  and  should  have  a 
larger  opportunity.  Our  country's  noblest  mission  is 
to  leaven  and  lift  up  the  weaker,  less  favored,  and 
despised  classes  in  our  midst.  .  .  . 

"  Fittingly  has  work  been  done  here  for  both  races. 
Here,  or  near  Hampton,  English  civilization  first  touched 
American  soil ;  near  here  the  first  slaves  were  landed, 
and  here  freedom  began.  Here,  where  white,  red,  and 
black  people  first  met,  the  white  men  began  the  conquest 
of  the  continent.  Is  it  not  right  that  Christian  educa- 
tion should  spring  up  here  where  freedom  and  education 
began  ?  Should  its  appeal  for  making  self-reliant  man- 
hood and  true  useful  womanhood,  through  endowment, 
perpetually  possible  for  these  weaker  peoples  lag  through 
another  quarter-century  ?     Having  a  third  of  the  needed 

217 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

million  dollars,  how  long  must  it  wait  for  the  rest  ?  I 
earnestly  hope  that  in  this  Columbian  year,  this  school's 
endowment  may  reach  the  sum  of  at  least  half  a  million 
dollars.  This  work  is  most  helpful;  it  gives  me  needed  relief 
and  a  chance  to  get  well  and  encouragement  to  remain  at 
the  helm,  which  I  should  not  do  did  not  the  old  ship  move 
on.     My  own  vitaHty  depends  on  that  of  the  school." 

In  spite  of  these  stimulating  and  reassuring  circum- 
stances Armstrong's  invalidism  became  by  degrees  more 
serious  and  confirmed.  The  winter  of  1 892-1 893  was 
spent  by  him  in  the  milder  and  drier  climate  of  Summer- 
ville.  South  Carolina,  where  a  son  was  born  to  him  on 
March  12,  1893.  He  became  sufficiently  restored  to  visit 
the  schools  at  Calhoun  and  at  Tuskegee,  addressing  at  the 
latter  place  with  his  customary  vivacity  a  convocation  of 
Negro  farmers.  "Mr.  Washington  asked  you  to  speak  to 
the  point.  I  will  try  to  speak  so.  The  report  of  your 
last  year's  conference  went  all  over  the  country.  I  read 
about  it.  It  did  great  good.  You  talked  good  sense, 
spoke  kindly.  You  told  the  facts.  You  didn't  grumble, 
or  complain  of  the  Southern  white  people  around  you. 
You  gave  them  credit  for  what  they  do  and  have  done 
for  you.  Mr.  Bedford  told  you  about  three  things  you 
must  have — the  church,  school,  and  home.  One  thing 
more  you  must  have — square  meals.  If  you  go  hungry, 
you  won't  do  much  for  yourselves  or  your  neighbors. 
All  you  who  raise  cotton,  hold  up  your  hands."  The 
show  of  hands  was  nearly  unanimous.  "How  many 
of  you  have  bought  food  at  the  stores — canned  goods?" 
218 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Nearly  all  raised  their  hands,  "How  many  of  you  did 
not  have  to  buy  any  corn  meal  and  bacon  at  the  stores  this 
year?"  Only  twenty  raised  their  hands.  *'Can  you  all 
raise  your  own  corn,  bacon,  and  syrup  ?  All  in  favor  of 
raising  their  own  food,  raise  your  hands."  There  was  a 
pretty  unanimous  response.  "Well,  now,  you  see  some 
Chicago  people  here  (correspondents  of  the  Inter-Ocean 
and  Chicago  Tribune  were  present).  Don't  buy  so  much 
meat  from  them.  Go  home  and  make  your  own  bacon 
and  syrup.  How  do  you  get  money  to  pay  for  your 
guano,  your  fertilizers  ?  On  your  mortgages  of  your 
crops?  Well,  what  could  you  plow  in  for  fertilizer?" 
Some  one  answered  "Peas."  "Yes,  that's  right,  cow- 
peas.  If  cotton  is  king,  let  cow-pea  be  queen.  You  all 
go  to  church,  don't  you  ?  Why  can't  you  stop  after  meet- 
ing and  talk  about  this  laziness,  this  loafing,  you  have  said 
is  one  difficulty  in  the  way  of  many  ?  Go  for  the  loafers. 
Give  them  fits.  And  go  for  corn  and  cow-peas.  You 
have  the  remedies  in  your  own  hands.  Make  the  most  of 
yourselves.  Don't  try  to  beat  others  so  much  as  to  beat 
yourselves — beat  your  own  record." 

His  reflections  on  the  duty  of  his  own  office  became  more 
serious  and  introspective.  "The  work  of  raising  funds 
for  Negro  education  by  annual  appeal  to  charity  is,"  he 
confesses,  "too  expensive  and  exhausting.  I  do  not  speak 
this  from  a  sense  of  personal  weariness  from  having  been 
pretty  much  used  up  in  the  work,  but  from  a  deliberate 
conviction  based  upon  experience  that  the  raising  of  from 
twenty  to  sixty  thousand  dollars  annually  needed  beyond 

219 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

present  resources  to  keep  alive  and  efficient  each  of  the 
leading  schools  for  Negroes,  requires  tremendous  effort, 
involuntary  excessive  wear  and  tear.  ...  Is  there  no 
other  way  to  secure  the  needful  funds  ?  Southern  liber- 
ality will  establish  and  take  care  of  Southern  colleges  for 
whites  as  they  have  done  in  the  past.  Will  Northern 
liberality  take  care  of  institutions  for  the  Negro  ?"  Yet 
his  faith  did  not  falter.  "This  is  the  day,"  he  writes,  **of 
the  fulfilment  of  things ;  God  chooses  His  own  time  and 
will  not  fail." 

On  April  lO,  1893,  he  spoke  to  his  students  in  the 
most  tender  and  affectionate  strain.  "The  time  is  draw- 
ing near  when  many  of  you  will  be  going  out  to  do  your 
work  in  the  world.  The  great  thing  is  to  do  it  well. 
Help  your  people  by  giving  them  what  has  been  given 
you,  and  by  your  example.  ...  It  may  seem  to  you  a 
fine  thing  to  belong  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 
So  it  is.  Remember  that  the  finest  thing  is  to  belong  to 
the  Grand  Army  of  God's  Workers,  to  do  His  work  for  the 
world.  A  great  many  of  the  Hampton  students  and 
graduates  belong  to  that  Grand  Army,  and  you  can  all 
belong  to  it."  On  April  23,  1893,  speaking  for  the  last 
time  to  his  students,  he  said  :  "  People  should  do  what  they 
can  do  best.  If  you  can  sing,  sing;  and  give  pleasure 
to  others.  This  gift  of  song  is  something  that  is  the 
possession  of  your  race ;  something  you  have  that  is  really 
of  value — something  you  can  do  well — better  than  others ; 
always  value  it,  don't  be  ashamed  of  these  old  songs — 
they  are  full  of  feeling  and  beauty,  and  of  history.  You 
220 


THE  STORY  OF   HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

think  people  laugh  at  them — sometimes  they  laugh  at 
some  quaint  expression ;  a  great  deal  oftener  they  feel  like 
crying ;  they  are  touched  by  the  beauty  and  feeling.  By 
singing  them  you  can  interest  people  in  your  race,  awaken 
their  sympathy  and  also  their  respect.  Spend  your  life 
in  doing  what  you  can  do  well.  If  you  can  teach,  teach  ! 
If  you  can't  teach  but  can  cook  well,  do  that !" 

None  of  these  happy  incidents,  however,  could  retard 
the  progress  of  disease.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Hampton, 
on  May  ii,  1893,  the  Ascension  Day  of  that  year,  he 
suddenly  and  peacefully  died.  "He  fought  the  good 
fight,"  his  faithful  colleague.  Dr.  Frissell,  said  at  the  fu- 
neral, "comes  naturally  to  our  lips  in  speaking  of  him. 
For  his  service  to  the  country,  not  only  in  the  war,  but 
in  what  he  said,  he  belonged  to  the  grandest  army — 
*the  Army  of  God's  Workers.'  It  is  fitting  that  this 
should  be  a  military  funeral,  that  he  should  have  a  hero's 
honors.  Like  St.  Paul,  like  Jesus  Christ  himself,  he  was 
wont  to  use  the  figures  of  military  service.  He  would 
love  to  see  here  his  old  command,  his  comrades  in  the 
army,  the  soldiers  of  the  United  States.  As  the  Salvation 
Army  people  say,  he  has  been  promoted.  Once  more  we 
follow  his  bodily  form — but  only  to  the  grave.  We  shall 
more  and  more  feel  that  in  spirit,  in  reality,  he  is  still 
with  us,  still  our  leader,  our  General." 

His  body  was  laid,  as  he  desired,  among  those  of  his 
students  who  had  died  at  the  school,  "where  one  of 
them,"  as  he  directed,  "would  have  been  put  had  he 
died  next";   and   devoted  friends  made  of  his  grave  a 

221 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

symbol  of  his  life.  At  its  head  was  set  a  huge  fragment 
of  volcanic  rock,  laboriously  brought  from  his  island-home 
in  the  Pacific,  and  at  its  foot  a  quartz  boulder  hewn 
from  the  Berkshire  Hills,  where  he  had  been  trained. 
The  monument  is  a  witness  of  the  character  it  com- 
memorates, volcanic  in  temperament,  granitic  in  per- 
sistency ;  a  life  of  self-destructive  energy,  like  a  mountain 
on  fire,  but  with  the  steadiness  and  strength  of  one  who 
had  lifted  up  his  eyes  to  the  hills  and  found  help. 

Such  was  the  end  of  an  era  in  the  history  of  Education 
for  Life.  The  prophet  of  Israel,  writing  of  his  own  time, 
describes  it  as  a  Day  of  the  Lord,  not  day  nor  night,  "but 
it  shall  come  to  pass  that  at  evening-time  it  shall  be 
light."  The  prophecy  had  been  fulfilled  in  the  last  days 
of  Armstrong.  His  work  had  been  "  known  unto  the  Lord, 
not  day  nor  night."  It  had  been  beset  by  clouds  of 
criticism  and  shadows  of  hostility;  its  ideals  had  been 
unfulfilled  and  its  future  was  undetermined  ;  yet  at  even- 
ing-time there  was  light.  Never  was  the  school  richer  in 
hope  and  faith  than  when  Armstrong  left  it,  or  more  pre- 
pared to  fulfil  the  promise  of  practical  religion  with  which 
the  ancient  Scripture  concludes:  "In  that  day  living 
waters  shall  go  out  from  Jerusalem,  and  all  the  land  shall 
be  .  .  .  lifted  up,  and  Jerusalem  shall  be  safely  inhabited  ; 
and  there  shall  be  upon  the  bridles  of  the  horses,  'Holy 
unto  the  Lord.'" 

With  Armstrong's  will  there  was  found,  after  his  death, 
a  paper  of  Memoranda,  written  after  he  became  aware  of 
mortal  illness,  and  bearing  his  last  message  to  his  fellow- 

222 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

workers  and  family.  The  accompanying  reproduction 
of  one  page  indicates  how  unpremeditated  and  spon- 
taneous these  Memoranda  were.  He  is  sitting  alone  in 
the  quiet  of  the  evening,  awaiting  the  end  of  his  work 
and  reflecting  on  its  lessons ;  and  his  sentences  are  hastily 
and  disconnectedly  jotted  down.  Yet  he  has  lost  nothing 
of  the  alertness  and  precision  of  his  mind.  There  is  but 
a  single  correction  in  these  eight  unstudied  pages.  His 
thought  moves  with  unbroken  continuity  and  speed  ;  and 
his  evening  meditation  has  become  the  classic  utterance  of 
his  character.  The  paradox  of  the  Christian  life  was  never 
more  clearly  stated.  In  one  sentence  he  says:  "Work 
that  requires  no  sacrifice  does  not  count"  ;  yet  a  little  later 
he  adds:  "I  never  gave  up  or  sacrificed  anything  in  my 
life."  What  was  this  but  the  finding  of  life  in  losing 
it,  the  service  which  had  become  perfect  freedom  ?  His 
parting  message  has  become,  not  alone  a  precious  legacy 
to  Hampton,  but  a  source  of  strength  to  great  numbers  of 
lives  which  are  trying  to  go  the  same  way  of  happy 
sacrifice. 

Memoranda. 

"Now  when  all  is  bright,  the  family  together  and  there 
is  nothing  to  alarm,  and  very  much  to  be  thankful  for,  it  is 
well  to  look  ahead  and  perhaps  to  say  the  things  that  I 
should  wish  known  should  I  suddenly  die. 

"I  wish  to  be  buried  in  the  school  graveyard  among  the 
students,  where  one  of  them  would  have  been  put  had  he 
died  next. 

"I  wish  no  monument  or  fuss  whatever  over  my  grave ; 

223 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

only  a  simple  headstone,  no  text  or  sentiment  inscribed, 
only  my  name  and  date.  I  wish  the  simplest  funeral 
service  without  sermon  or  attempt  at  oratory — a  soldier's 
funeral. 

*'I  hope  there  will  be  enough  friends  to  see  that  the 
work  of  the  school  shall  continue.  Unless  some  shall 
make  sacrifices  for  it,  it  cannot  go  on. 

**A  work  that  requires  no  sacrifice  does  not  count  for 
much  in  fulfilling  God's  plans.  But  what  is  commonly 
called  sacrifice  is  the  best,  happiest  use  of  one's  self  and 
one's  resources — the  best  investment  of  time,  strength, 
and  means.  He  who  makes  no  such  sacrifice  is  most  to  be 
pitied.     He  is  a  heathen  because  he  knows  nothing  of  God. 

**In  the  school  the  great  thing  is  not  to  quarrel;  to 
pull  all  together;  to  refrain  from  hasty,  unwise  words  and 
actions;  to  unselfishly  and  wisely  seek  the  best  good  of 
all ;  and  to  get  rid  of  workers  whose  temperaments  are 
unfortunate — whose  heads  are  not  level ;  no  matter  how 
much  knowledge  or  culture  they  may  have.  Cantanker- 
ousness  is  worse  than  heterodoxy. 

"I  wish  no  effort  at  a  biography  of  myself  made.  Good 
friends  might  get  up  a  pretty  good  story,  but  it  would  not 
be  the  whole  truth.  The  truth  of  a  life  usually  lies  deep 
down — we  hardly  know  ourselves — God  only  does.  I 
trust  His  mercy.  The  shorter  one's  creed  the  better. 
*  Simply  to  Thy  cross  I  cling'  is  enough  for  me. 

**I  am  most  thankful  for  my  parents,  my  Hawaiian 
home,  for  war  experiences,  and  college  days  at  Williams, 
and  for  life  and  work  at  Hampton.  Hampton  has  blessed 
224 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

me  in  so  many  ways ;  along  with  it  have  come  the  choicest 
people  of  the  country  for  my  friends  and  helpers,  and  then 
such  a  grand  chance  to  do  something  directly  for  those 
set  free  by  the  war,  and  indirectly  for  those  who  were 
conquered ;  and  Indian  work  has  been  another  great 
privilege. 

**Few  men  have  had  the  chance  that  I  have  had.  I 
never  gave  up  or  sacrificed  anything  in  my  life — have 
been,  seemingly,  guided  in  everything. 

"Prayer  is  the  greatest  power  in  the  world.  It  keeps 
us  near  to  God — my  own  prayer  has  been  most  weak, 
wavering,  inconstant ;  yet  has  been  the  best  thing  I  have 
ever  done.  I  think  this  is  a  universal  truth — what  com- 
fort is  there  in  any  but  the  broadest  truths  ? 

"I  am  most  curious  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  next  world. 
How  will  it  all  seem  .?  Perfectly  fair,  perfectly  natural, 
no  doubt.     We  ought  not  to  fear  death.     It  is  friendly. 

**The  only  pain  that  comes  at  the  thought  of  it  is  for 
my  true  faithful  wife  and  blessed  dear  children.  But 
they  will  be  brave  about  it  all,  and  in  the  end  stronger. 
They  are  my  greatest  comfort. 

"Hampton  must  not  go  down.  See  to  it,  you  who  are 
true  to  the  black  and  red  children  of  the  land,  and  to  just 
ideas  of  education. 

"The  loyalty  of  my  old  soldiers  and  of  my  students 
has  been  an  unspeakable  comfort. 

"It  pays  to  follow  one's  best  light — to  put  God  and 
country  first;  ourselves  afterwards. 

"Taps  has  just  sounded." 

225 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 


^    J/lrxt^  CZ^<^-^ '^<^=^^<^   Q-*-t-^    ^ 


C/ic^/  Ik**    /i«-^    ^^rs'k-.-* 


Facsimile  of  a  Page  of  the  Armstrong  "Memoranda' 


226 


CHAPTER  '  NINE 

THE    COMING    OF    FRISSELL    (1880-1893) 

HOLLIS  BURKE  FRISSELL  was  born  in  the  village 
of  South  Amenia,  New  York,  on  July  14,  185 1.  He 
came  of  that  unmixed  and  robust  American  stock,  whose 
roots  are  in  plain  living  and  high  thinking,  and  whose 
fruits  are  self-sacrifice  and  self-control.  His  ancestors 
on  both  sides.  Lieutenant  William  Frissell  and  Captain 
William  Barker,  were  officers  in  the  Revolutionary  War. 
His  great-grandfather  cultivated  a  rocky  farm  on  the 
crest  of  one  of  the  Berkshire  Hills  in  Massachusetts, 
where  the  ridgepole  of  the  neighboring  Meeting  House, 
according  to  popular  belief,  shed  the  rain  on  its  eastern 
side  toward  the  Connecticut  River,  and  on  its  western 
slope  to  the  Hudson.  This  thrifty  New  England  farmer 
was,  according  to  the  habit  of  those  days,  richer  in  chil- 
dren than  in  crops.  He  became  the  father  of  six  sons, 
three  of  whom,  thanks  to  extreme  economy  at  home  and 
to  determined  self-help  in  the  boys  themselves,  were 
able  to  achieve  a  college  education.  One  of  these  sons, 
Amasa,  in  his  turn  dedicated  his  son  Amasa  to  the  Chris- 
tian ministry;  and  this  youth  in  1834  entered  Lane 
Seminary,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  the  distinguished  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher  had  just  been  appointed  President. 

227 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

A  large  number  of  students,  some  from  the  slave-hold- 
ing States  and  one  himself  a  slaveholder,  had  been  drawn 
thither  by  Dr.  Beecher's  reputation  both  as  a  revivalist 
and  as  a  pillar  of  orthodoxy,  and  the  irrepressible  ques- 
tion of  emancipation  became  the  subject  of  frequent 
debate.  In  the  temporizing  spirit  of  those  turbulent 
days,  however,  the  Trustees  of  the  Seminary  determined 
to  prohibit  all  discussions  of  this  character  among  the 
students  as  "imprudent  in  a  divided  and  excited  com- 
munity" and  as  "pressing  a  collateral  benevolent  enter- 
prise in  a  manner  subversive  of  the  confidence  of  the 
entire  Christian  community."  *  The  Faculty  of  the 
school,  with  much  reluctance  on  the  part  of  some  mem- 
bers, sustained  the  opinion  of  the  Trustees  that  the 
question  of  slavery  was  for  Christian  teachers  "a  col- 
lateral enterprise,"  and  Dr.  Beecher  himself,  greatly 
to  the  disappointment  of  many  Northern  friends,  sup- 
ported this  view.  There  ensued  a  general  rebellion 
among  the  students,  which  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  whole  country  and  enlisted  some  important  recruits 
for  the  antislavery  cause.  Between  seventy  and  eighty 
of  these  "rebels"  withdrew  in  a  body  from  the  care  of 
teachers  who,  as  the  prophet  Ezekiel  once  said,  "prophe- 
sied concerning  Jerusalem  and  saw  visions  of  peace  for 
her;  and  there  is  no  peace,  saith  the  Lord  God."  Thirty 
of  these  young  reformers   migrated  to  Oberlin  College 


*  The  story  is  graphically  told  in  Oliver  Johnson's  "W.  L.  Garrison  and  His 
Times,"  1881,  pp.  165  ff. ;  and  S.  J.  May's,  "Some  Recollections  of  our  Anti- 
Slavery  Conflicts,"  1869,  pp.  102  flF. 

228 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

and  became  the  nucleus  of  its  theological  school ;  while 
Amasa  Frissell,  with  another  group,  proceeded  to  the 
Yale  Divinity  School,  where  he  was  a  student  for  three 
years.  Thus  early  in  the  family  history  the  cause  of  the 
Negro  became  the  determining  factor  in  a  youth's  career ; 
while  at  the  same  time  a  sister  of  this  Amasa  enlisted 
as  a  missionary  among  the  Choctaw  Indians,  living, 
dying,  and  being  buried  among  them  in  their  section  of 
the  Indian  Territory.  It  was  a  dramatic  anticipation 
of  that  work  for  Negroes  and  Indians  which  the  son  and 
nephew  of  these  early  abolitionists  was  a  half-century 
later  to  undertake. 

From  the  Yale  Divinity  School  Amasa  Frissell  was 
called  to  a  modest  pastorate  in  the  village  of  South 
Amenia,  New  York,  where  in  1843  he  married  Lavinia 
Barker,  the  Preceptress  of  the  local  Seminary,  a  culti- 
vated and  winsome  woman,  whose  qualities  blended 
happily  with  the  severer  temperament  of  her  Presby- 
terian husband,  and  reappeared  in  the  gentleness  and 
geniality  of  her  children.  "If  I  have  anything  good  in 
me,"  her  son  once  said,  "it  comes  from  the  refinement 
and  unselfishness  of  my  mother."  In  these  favoring 
though  restricted  circumstances  Hollis  Frissell's  child- 
hood was  passed.  It  was  a  typical  American  home  of 
the  ante-bellum  period,  strenuous  and  disciplined,  de- 
voted to  high  ideals  and  happy  in  mutual  sacrifices,  the 
soil  from  which  initiative,  versatility,  and  persistency 
naturally  spring.  A  rural  minister  of  those  days  was 
hardly  less  a  farmer  than  a  preacher.     The  professional 

229 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

salary  at  Amenia  was  ^600  a  year,  and  the  three  sons  and 
one  daughter  of  the  home  were  trained  in  agricuhure 
not  less  than  in  piety.  Two  meetings  for  worship,  with 
Sunday-school,  prayer-meeting,  and  catechetical  instruc- 
tion intervening,  left  a  boy  little  time  either  for  rest  or 
for  mischief  on  the  Lord's  Day ;  and  the  driving  of  cows 
and  sheep,  the  care  of  horses,  and  the  interminable  tasks 
of  cutting  and  storing  wood,  gave  ample  opportunity 
through  the  week  for  learning  the  lessons  to  be  later 
taught  to  others,  of  the  moral  value  of  manual  work. 
A  little  red  schoolhouse  provided  a  meagre  elementary 
education;  "not  very  fine,"  the  pupil  later  recorded, 
**but  the  best  to  be  had." 

Failure  in  the  father's  health  soon  involved  more  than 
one  change  of  residence,  and  at  the  end  of  the  Civil 
War  Amasa  Frissell  entered  the  service  of  the  Sanitary 
Commission  ;  and  later  that  of  the  Boston  Tract  Society, 
of  which  for  twenty-five  years  he  was  the  New  York 
secretary.  This  Association  had  been  organized  as  a 
protest  against  the  hesitating  attitude  of  the  American 
Tract  Society  on  the  irrepressible  question  of  slavery. 
In  1863  it  had  been  debated  between  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon 
and  Dr.  Bethune  whether  the  publications  of  the  Ameri- 
can Society  should  suppress  all  teaching  which  might 
irritate  slaveholders ;  and  when,  in  the  course  of  that 
discussion,  Dr.  Bacon,  with  characteristic  vehemence, 
protested  that  he  should  not  only  throw  his  influence 
against  this  restriction,  but  should  throw  that  of  "all  the 
little  Bacons"  against  it,  Dr.  Bethune,  with  fraternal 
230 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

good  humor,  replied  that,  "considering  the  number  of 
the  gentleman's  allies,  his  opponents  might  as  well  sur- 
render at  once." 

Amasa  Frissell  found  a  congenial  career  in  promoting 
the  more  unqualified  teaching  of  social  duty  which  the 
Boston  Society  represented,  and  established  his  family 
at  Bergen,  New  Jersey,  from  which  place  his  son  Hollis, 
then  fifteen  years  of  age,  travelled  each  morning  to  a 
school  in  New  York  City,  being  employed  each  afternoon 
and  all  day  Saturday  in  the  office  of  the  Tract  Society. 
Here  he  received  the  publications  from  Boston,  carried 
them  to  the  homes  of  subscribers  in  the  city,  forwarded 
them  to  other  contributors,  collected  bills  and  kept  ac- 
counts, until  in  two  years  he  had  saved  enough  from  his 
modest  stipend  to  permit  himself  the  luxury  of  one  year 
at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  where  he  entered  in 
1868.  In  the  following  year  he  entered  Yale  College, 
earning  his  living  there  by  providing  for  two  "Eating 
Clubs,"  as  well  as  by  the  catholic  use  of  his  fresh  tenor 
voice  in  the  choir  of  a  Jewish  tabernacle  on  Saturday 
and  of  a  Baptist  church  on  Sunday.  The  strain  of  this 
divided  life  of  study  and  bread-winning  gradually  under- 
mined his  health,  and  in  the  senior  term  a  serious  attack 
of  typhoid  fever  cost  him  for  that  year  his  degree,  and  he 
graduated  with  the  Class  of  1874. 

These  varied  demands  and  limitations  had  their  neces- 
sary consequences  in  his  college  career.  He  was  incon- 
spicuous among  his  classmates,  much  beloved  by  a  small 
circle  of  intimate  friends,  welcomed  to  a  favorite  Society, 

231 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  President  of  the  college  Glee  Club ;  but  not  notable 
among  his  fellows  either  for  scholarship  or  brilliant 
promise.  "No  one  of  us,"  a  classmate  writes,  "would 
have  credited  him  with  the  executive  power  which  he 
afterwards  developed.  As  I  remember,  he  was  distin- 
guished in  nolwayjin  college,  in  scholarship,  oratory,  or 
literary  achievement,  but  simply  was  one  trying  to  do 
his  best."  "To  tell  the  truth,"  another  says,  "most 
of  us  have  been  a  little  surprised  at  the  large  figure  Frissell 
has  cut  at  Hampton."  "Not  one  of  his  classmates," 
a  third  reports,  "would  have  dreamed  of  his  wonderful 
career.  .  .  .  My  conception  of  him  was  of  some  kindly 
and  devoted  pastor  of  some  moderate-sized  church." 
What  these  young  companions  could  not  appreciate — 
what  indeed  Hollis  Frissell  himself  could  not  then  fairly 
estimate — was  the  "Education  for  Life"  which  was 
being  won  by  the  struggle  for  an  education  in  college. 
In  an  environment  of  happy  irresponsibility  and  easy 
circumstances  this  youth  was  silently  wrestling  each 
day  with  the  problem  of  self-support.  His  friends  of 
the  "Scroll  and  Key"  and  of  the  Glee  Club  were  for 
the  most  part  free  from  such  cares  and  from  the  gravity 
and  restraint  which  were  inevitable  effects ;  and  their 
gentle  and  devout  comrade,  without  marked  taste  for 
books  or  special  distinction  in  athletics,  might  easily 
be  mistaken  for  a  worthy  but  ordinary  man. 

It  is  a  misinterpretation  with  which  each  generation  of 
university  students  becomes  familiar.  Nothing  is  more 
humiliating  in  the  retrospect  than  the  mistaken  estimates 
232 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

made  in  college  of  promise  or  gifts.  The  youthful  clever- 
ness, intellectual  alertness,  and  personal  charm  which 
then  seemed  to  assure  a  brilliant  career  have  not  in- 
frequently degenerated  into  superficiality,  self-confi- 
dence, or  laxity;  while  the  persistency,  patience,  and 
unselfishness  which  then  made  no  mark  have  accomplished 
results  which  are  as  surprising  to  their  possessor  as  to  his 
friends.  When  one  now  looks  back  on  Hollis  Frissell's 
course  of  education  one  sees  it  moving  steadily  toward 
the  end  which  it  finally  attained.  His  childhood  on  a 
farm  laid  a  foundation  for  his  fitness  to  direct  agricultural 
labor;  the  unremitting  necessity  for  self-help  made  him 
understand  the  experience  of  students  whose  way  was 
hard,  and  made  them  sure  that  their  problems  were  under- 
stood by  him;  his  failure  in  health  tested  and  developed 
his  capacity  to  wait ;  his  habits  of  religious  self-expres- 
sion steadied  his  will ;  and  his  gift  of  gentle  humor  won 
him  devoted  friends.  The  years  at  the  university  were 
shaping  him,  not  into  a  college  celebrity,  but  into  the 
firmer  mould  of  a  determined  character. 

It  must  also  be  confessed  that  the  type  of  studies 
offered  to  his  generation  in  all  American  universities  as 
representing  the  higher  learning  did  not  kindle  a  mind 
like  Frissell's  to  vigorous  activity.  His  thinking  in 
later  life  was  singularly  sagacious,  lucid,  and  persistent, 
but  it  was  not  academic.  He  cared  less  for  books  than 
for  people,  for  humanity,  for  life.  A  subject  had  to 
prove  itself  real,  near,  and  human,  to  stir  his  imagi- 
nation or  his  will,  but  when  he  was  confronted  by  such 

233 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

a  subject  his  mind  attacked  it  with  enthusiasm  and 
power.  Thus  his  inconspicuousness  as  a  scholar  in  col- 
lege was  due,  not  to  lack  of  talent,  but  to  the  prevailing 
college  system.  Mid- Victorian  education  took  little  ac- 
count of  the  exceptional  man.  In  a  throng  of  youths 
where  distinction  came  by  learning  what  one  was  taught, 
without  intellectual  reaction  or  response,  a  mind  which 
demanded  the  summons  of  reality  might  easily  remain 
undiscovered,  not  by  its  comrades  only,  but  by  itself. 

For  two  years  after  his  graduation  at  Yale,  Hollis 
Frissell  served  as  a  sub-master  in  a  boarding-school  for 
boys  and  girls  at  Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson,  enlarging 
still  further  the  range  of  his  musical  sympathies  by 
singing  during  this  period  in  the  choir  of  an  Episcopal 
church,  and  in  his  leisure  hours  directing  his  reading 
toward  the  profession  of  the  ministry.  It  is  interesting 
to  recall  that  these  first  lessons  in  theology  were  learned 
under  the  direction  of  an  Episcopal  rector,  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Olmstead,  who  had  been,  until  the  Northern  inva- 
sion, a  resident  of  North  Carolina.  With  this  liberally- 
minded  clergyman  young  Frissell  not  only  confirmed  his 
own  inclination  to  religious  toleration  by  the  reading  of 
Coleridge,  Bushnell,  and  Jowett,  but  also  became  aware 
of  the  Southern  view  of  the  origin  and  effect  of  the  war, 
and  was  led  to  appreciate  the  necessity  for  sympathy  and 
tact  in  approaching  thoee  burning  issues  in  which  he 
was  later  to  have  so  important  a  share. 

In  1876  he  entered  Union  Theological  Seminary,  sup- 
porting himself  by  service  as  Assistant  to  Dr.  Charles 
234 


IIAMFION'S   SKCOND   PRINCIPAL 
HoLLis  Burke  Frissell 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Robinson,  pastor  of  the  Madison  Avenue  Presbyterian 
Church  in  New  York  City.  To  direct  a  Sunday-school, 
conduct  a  mission-chapel,  sing  in  the  church  choir,  and 
co-operate  with  Dr.  Robinson  in  the  compilation  of  a 
hymnbook,  would  seem  of  themselves  to  provide  suffi- 
cient  occupation;  and  the  burden  could  not  have  been 
perceptibly  lightened  by  listening  through  the  week 
to  the  theology  of  Dr.  Shedd  or  the  erudition  of  Dr. 
SchafF.  Yet  the  soul  of  the  young  student  was  not 
altogether  crushed,  either  by  its  load  of  practical  duties, 
or  by  the  ponderous  learning  of  his  instructors,  and  his 
religious  life  found  various  ways  of  escape,  both  from  the 
obligations  of  bread-winning  and  from  the  tasks  of  study. 
In  the  summer  of  1878  he  accepted  an  opportunity  for 
missionary  service  in  New  Brunswick,  and  found  it  an 
exhilarating  and  reassuring  experience.  Writing  to  a 
fellow-student,  he  unconsciously  revealed  both  the  humil- 
ity and  integrity  of  his  mind.  "I  feel  very  ignorant  of 
what  I  ought  to  do,  yet  I  believe  that  God  has  some  work 
for  me  in  the  world.  I  am  glad  to  find  myself  so  happy 
in  this  little  out-of-the-way  place.  It  makes  me  feel  as 
though  I  could  go  quite  contentedly  to  whatever  spot  God 
calls  me.  ...  As  for  being  a  missionary,  I  have  thought 
of  it  a  great  deal.  It  has  sometimes  seemed  to  me  that 
God  calls  me  to  do  mission-work  in  the  city."  And  again  : 
"  Do  you  approve  of  asking  people  to  get  up  in  meeting, 
etc.  ?  I  may  be  wrong,  but  I  have  a  kind  of  aversion 
to  it.  When  I  ask  people  about  being  Christians,  they 
say  I  do  not   speak  as  though   their   destiny   depended 

23s 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

on  it."  It  was  a  difficult  adjustment  which  he  was 
making,  between  the  conventional  methods  of  evangel- 
ical piety  and  the  fine  reticence  of  a  sensitive  soul ;  and 
the  instinctive  restraint  which  was  never  overcome  by 
him  without  effort  gave  to  the  utterances  of  his  inward 
life  throughout  his  career  a  peculiar  force  and  poignancy, 
as  of  a  reluctant  and  sacrificial  act. 

Another  and  a  more  significant  incident  occurred  in 
the  course  of  his  pastoral  duties,  which  gave  definite 
direction  to  his  missionary  zeal.  The  church  which  he 
served  was  urged  to  undertake  some  care  of  the  Negroes 
at  the  South,  to  whom  the  War  and  the  Reconstruction 
period  had  brought  the  forms  of  liberty  while  still  leaving 
them  in  the  bondage  of  ignorance  and  helplessness ;  and 
the  young  assistant  presented  this  cause  to  his  Sunday- 
school  as  an  appealing  use  for  their  missionary  offerings. 
FaiHng  of  adequate  support,  but  unable  to  resist  the  call 
of  his  own  heart,  young  Frissell  turned  to  the  American 
Missionary  Association  as  the  principal  agent  of  this  form 
of  relief,  and  made  a  visit  of  observation  to  its  schools 
on  the  Hampton  peninsula. 

Here  in  1880  his  path  of  life  met  that  of  Armstrong. 
It  was  the  American  Missionary  Association  which  had 
first  occupied  this  field  of  operation,  and  its  missionaries 
had  enlisted  in  the  first  staff  of  Hampton  teachers. 
Armstrong  himself  had  been  bred  in  the  same  tradition, 
and  had  recognized  the  likeness  between  the  problems  of 
Hawaii  and  of  the  Southern  States.  The  momentum  of 
the  school  in  twenty-two  years  had  swept  it  beyond  the 
236 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

control  or  the  methods  of  a  Missionary  Board,  but  the 
ideals  which  had  originally  prompted  its  foundation  re- 
mained its  propeUing  force,  and  next  to  the  all-pervasive 
influence  of  Armstrong  himself  its  most  pressing  need  was 
that  of  a  new  appointment  to  succeed  the  earlier  chaplains. 
Frissell  preached  one  Sunday  in  the  little  Bethesda 
Chapel,  which  had  been  built  during  the  War  by  convales- 
cent soldiers  within  the  grounds  of  the  National  Cemetery, 
under  the  direction  of  their  chaplain,  the  well-known 
author.  Rev.  E.  P.  Roe,  and  which  was  utilized  by  the 
school  as  a  place  of  worship  until  supplanted  by  the  more 
monumental  Memorial  Church.  It  could  not  have  been 
a  thrilling  discourse,  for  it  was  not  by  dramatic  effects 
that  Frissell  ever  impressed  his  congregations.  He  re- 
calls also  that  in  the  course  of  worship  a  sudden  breeze 
drifted  through  the  open  door  and  seizing  upon  the  sheets 
of  his  sermon  swept  them  away  from  the  pulpit  desk. 
Armstrong's  insight,  however,  detected  the  man  behind 
the  sermon,  and  even  the  man  deprived  of  his  sermon, 
and  pressed  him  to  remain.  "I  answered,"  records 
Frissell,  "that  I  would  come  for  one  year." 

Thus  in  1880  this  extraordinary  partnership  was 
formed — Armstrong,  on  fire  with  passionate  energy, 
thinking  in  flashes  and  speaking  in  aphorisms,  and  Fris- 
sell, with  modest  demeanor  and  gracious  self-restraint, 
setting  himself  to  perform  what  his  leader  had  dreamed. 
The  one  was  like  a  fresh  wind  blowing  in  from  Hampton 
Roads,  sweeping  away  the  prejudices  and  discourage- 
ments   which    threatened    the    work,    and    reviving    its 

237 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

vitality  and  courage;  the  other  was  like  the  Virginia 
sunshine,  tranquilHzing  and  life-giving,  persuading  rather 
than  compelling,  and  accepting  the  law  of  spiritual  at- 
traction which  draws  rather  than  drives.  Armstrong 
was  born  to  be  a  leader,  impetuous,  soldierly,  and  com- 
manding; Frissell  might  have  been  remembered,  as  his 
classmate  prophesied,  "as  the  kindly  and  devoted  pastor 
of  a  moderate-sized  church"  had  not  the  summons  come 
to  him  to  abandon  this  creditable  ambition  for  a  sub- 
ordinate place  in  a  difficult  missionary  task.  The  one 
discovered  his  work,  the  other  was  discovered  by  the 
work  which  was  given  him  to  do. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  overworked  but  undiscour- 
aged  Armstrong  came  to  depend  at  many  points  upon 
his  conscientious  and  self-efFacing  colleague.  Not  only 
the  religious  life  of  the  students  became  the  object  of 
Frissell's  scrupulous  charge;  but  his  Chief  was  relieved 
of  the  irksome  planning  of  campaigns  at  the  North,  and 
even  in  some  degree  of  his  money-getting  journeys  thither. 
A  systematic  programme  for  each  winter  was  devised 
by  the  Chaplain,  the  speakers  and  singers  trained,  the 
appointments  made  and  kept,  and  the  business  methods 
which  in  boyhood  were  required  to  earn  a  living  for  him- 
self were  now  applied  to  regulate,  and  sometimes  to 
curb,  Armstrong's  impetuous  plans.  With  the  same 
vicarious  devotion  Frissell  visited  in  Armstrong's  name 
during  the  winter  of  1881  the  schools  for  Negroes  in  the 
South,  travelling  often  on  horseback  among  rural  com- 
munities, reporting  to  his  Chief  the  opportunities  and 
238 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

the  hindrances  which  confronted  both  blacks  and  whites, 
and  unconsciously  preparing  himself  for  the  well-informed 
leadership  which  he  was  later  to  assume  among  both 
races. 

In  1883  Frissell's  service  to  Hampton  was  re-enforced 
by  his  marriage  to  Miss  Julia  F.  Dodd,  a  daughter  of 
Amzi  Dodd,  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New  Jer- 
sey, a  special  Judge  in  the  Court  of  Error  and  Appeal, 
and  later  an  important  leader  in  the  development  of  a 
sound  system  of  mutual  Hfe  insurance.  This  union 
of  hearts  and  lives  was  not  only  one  of  tender  and  con- 
stantly increasing  happiness  to  husband  and  wife,  but 
one  which  brought  to  the  school  a  new  contribution  of 
devoted  loyalty  and  gracious  hospitality  for  a  constantly 
widening  circle  of  teachers,  pupils,  and  friends. 

In  1886  the  first  break  in  Armstrong's  vitality  occurred, 
and  while  he  sought  convalescence  on  the  island  of 
Jamaica,  Frissell  as  Vice-Principal  assumed  further 
responsibilities  both  in  teaching  and  campaigning,  and 
led  the  group  which  visited  the  Indian  reservations  to 
secure  competent  pupils.  In  1 891,  as  has  been  narrated, 
Armstrong  was  more  seriously  stricken,  and  though 
by  degrees  sufficiently  restored  to  survey  and  inspire 
his  work,  its  details  of  administration  and  its  grave 
problems  of  finance  were  inevitably  delegated  to  the 
Vice-Principal,  whose  sole  aim  was  to  perpetuate  and 
strengthen  his  General's  designs;  and  when  in  1893 
Armstrong  died,  the  succession  passed  without  delay, 
though  not  without  some  anxiety  on  the  part  of  the 

239 


EDUCATION  FOR   LIFE 

Trustees  at  so  radical  a  change,  from  the  confident  control 
of  so  acknowledged  a  master  to  the  gentle,  and  as  feared 
by  some,  the  less  determined  personality  of  the  beloved, 
but  still  undiscovered,  Chaplain.  It  was  a  situation  not 
unlike  that  which,  as  has  been  indicated,  existed  among 
his  classmates  at  Yale.  Refinement,  integrity,  and  dis- 
interestedness were  recognized  and  appreciated,  but  it 
was  not  yet  apparent  that  firmness  lay  beneath  suavity, 
and  discernment  behind  considerateness,  or  that  within 
twenty-four  years  it  would  be  said  of  Frissell  by  a  dis- 
tinguished representative  of  white  sentiment  at  the 
South  :  "No  man  in  American  public  life  has  done  more 
to  heal  the  wounds  of  war,  to  bind  the  sections  together, 
to  unify  the  nation,  to  build  up  a  finer  and  freer  civili- 
zation on  the  ruins  of  an  old  order,  than  this  unobtru- 
sive missionary  to  a  backward  race."  * 

Yet  this  gradual  unfolding  of  a  distinguished  career 
is  precisely  what  makes  the  coming  of  Frissell  not  only 
interesting  in  itself  but  peculiarly  reassuring  to  many 
self-distrustful  lives.  For  here  was  a  man  who  found 
himself  by  finding  a  great  work  to  do ;  a  man  whose 
powers  developed  as  his  responsibilities  multiplied  and 
whose  grasp  grew  firmer  as  resistance  increased.  The 
qualities  of  administrative  statesmanship  which  he  was 
to  exhibit  ripened  slowly,  and  he  might  have  repeated 
of  his  early  life  what  the  Master  of  his  religious  faith 
said  of  Himself,   "My  time  is  not  yet  come."     When, 

*  E.  A.  Alderman,  President  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  Southern  Work- 
man, Nov.  1917. 

240 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

however,  he  made  himself  the  servant  of  a  cause  far 
greater  than  himself,  he  became  through  the  moulding 
influence  of  that  cause  its  trusted  leader,  to  whom  the 
white  race  as  well  as  the  colored  turned  for  wisdom, 
foresight,  and  efficiency. 

Never  was  there  a  finer  illustration  of  the  paradox  of 
the  Christian  life,  that  he  who  loses  his  life  finds  it,  and 
that  he  who  sanctifies  himself  for  others'  sakes  becomes 
a  master  of  men.  The  coming  of  Frissell  was  not,  like 
that  of  Armstrong,  a  frontal  attack  upon  the  problems 
of  racial  adjustment ;  it  was  the  spiritual  strategy  of 
Christian  statesmanship,  flanking  both  prejudice  and  dis- 
trust, and  capturing  their  positions  without  striking  a 
blow.  The  further  expansion  of  Hampton,  both  within 
itself  and  in  its  eff'ect  upon  other  schools — the  conversion 
of  intelligent  sentiment  at  the  South  from  hostility  or 
condescension  to  co-operation  and  teachableness  ;  the  rec- 
ognition of  Hampton  as  the  most  instructive  illustration 
of  vocational  training  which  can  be  studied  by  observers 
from  many  lands  ;  and,  more  than  all,  the  perpetuation  of 
the  ideals  which  Armstrong  had  inspired  and  which  ex- 
pressed the  soul  of  the  school, — all  these  achievements 
of  the  new  era,  which  are  still  to  be  described,  must  be 
permanently  associated  with  that  modest  Chaplain,  to 
whom  the  work  of  Armstrong  was  not  without  hesitation 
committed,  but  whose  wisdom  grew  with  responsibiHty 
and  whose  gentleness  was  the  sign  of  strength. 


241 


CHAPTER  TEN 

THE    EXPANSION   OF    HAMPTON   (1893-1918) 

WHEN  one  passes  from  the  quarter-century  of  Arm- 
strong's leadership  to  the  period,  lacking  but  one  year 
of  the  same  length,  of  his  successor's  administration,  he 
finds  it  an  era  of  extraordinary  and  uninterrupted  expan- 
sion, both  within  the  school  itself  and  in  the  extension  of 
its  influence  throughout  the  South  and  the  world.  The 
story  is  told  in  statistical  form  in  the  elaborate  statements 
and  tables  which  are  collected  in  the  Appendices  of  this 
volume,  and  in  which  various  members  of  the  staflF 
report  the  external  conditions  and  various  activities  of 
the  school  during  the  entire  term  of  fifty  years. 

The  pace  of  progress  may  be  noted  in  many  aspects  and 
at  many  points.  When,  for  example,  in  1886  the  Memorial 
Church  was  dedicated  Armstrong  announced  that,  so  far 
as  he  could  foresee,  no  other  building  of  importance  was 
likely  to  be  needed ;  but  since  that  time  not  less  than 
fifteen  buildings,  costing  in  the  aggregate  more  than 
$800,000,  have  been  added  to  the  plant,  and  the  growth 
both  in  the  number  and  the  dimensions  of  buildings  still 
proceeds  at  a  constantly  accelerated  pace.  In  1893 
Armstrong  believed  that  the  future  of  the  school  would 
be  insured  by  securing  an  endowment  of  $1,000,000 ;  but 
242 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

twenty-four  years  later  the  endowment  fund  had  reached 
a  total  of  $3,064,092.30  and  the  school  was  never  more 
in  need  of  further  gifts.  In  1893  the  expenditure  was 
$112,442.97;  in  1917  the  necessary  budget  was 
$351,741.27.  In  1893  the  income  of  the  school  was 
$125,672.04;  in  1917  the  income,  like  the  expenditure, 
had  more  than  doubled,  reaching  a  total  of  $303,290.37. 
In  1893  there  were  in  the  school  679  boarding  pupils; 
in  1917  the  number  of  boarding  pupils  had  risen  to  934. 

These  contrasts  are  sufficient  to  indicate  an  expansion 
of  the  school,  both  in  opportunity  and  responsibility,  of 
which  even  Armstrong  with  his  sanguine  anticipations 
could  hardly  have  dreamed.  Agriculture  with  its  diver- 
sified interests  of  production,  stock-raising,  and  dairy- 
farming;  home  economics  with  its  varied  industries  of 
cooking,  laundry-work,  millinery,  and  household  care ; 
business  administration  with  its  contributory  classes  in 
bookkeeping  and  commercial  law ;  technical  training  in  a 
constantly  increasing  number  of  trades,  from  elementary 
carpentering  to  motor-repairing, — all  these  vocational 
undertakings,  though  for  the  most  part  begun  in  the 
era  of  Armstrong,  have  not  only  been  multiplied  and 
strengthened,  but  have  been  brought  into  intimate  cor- 
relation with  academic  study,  and  made  not  only  forms  of 
production,  but  ways  of  instruction  in  which  work  is 
subordinated  to  the  worker  and  education  to  Hfe. 

Here  it  is  that  we  come  into  sight  of  the  fundamental 
idea  which,  though  seen  afar  at  the  foundation  of  the 
school,  has  now  come  clearly  into  view  and  has  been  made, 

243 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

by  an  untiring  and  ingenious  body  of  teachers  and  man- 
agers, a  working  principle.  The  expansion  of  Hampton  is 
the  gradual  realization  and  confirmation  of  this  principle, 
which  gives  the  school  a  peculiar,  if  not  a  unique  place 
in  the  history  of  education.  The  external  conditions 
which  meet  one  in  shops  and  class-rooms  are  not  per- 
ceptibly different  from  those  which  prevail  in  most 
industrial  establishments  or  institutions  for  vocational 
training ;  but  the  aim  of  this  discipline,  and  the  estimate 
of  its  results  which  are  accepted  as  sufficient,  distinguish 
the  Hampton  plan,  both  of  academic  and  of  industrial 
training,  from  much  which  may  reasonably  claim  to  be 
more  productive  or  more  profitable.  In  short,  the  funda- 
mental issue  in  all  Education  for  Life  is  between  a  train- 
ing to  make  things  and  a  training  to  make  character.  Is 
a  man  to  be  taught  carpentering  primarily  that  a  house 
shall  be  well  built,  or  that  in  the  building  the  man  him- 
self shall  get  intelligence,  self-mastery,  and  skill  ^  Is 
a  girl  taught  dressmaking  primarily  that  she  may  make 
her  living,  or  that  she  shall  make  her  life  ? 

Armstrong  had  recognized  from  the  outset  the  intel- 
lectual and  moral  significance  of  manual  labor,  and  had 
often  urged  that  the  training  of  the  hand  was  at  the  same 
time  a  training  of  the  mind  and  will.  As  early  as  1876 
he  had  written  in  prophetic  words:  "We  believe  that 
when  a  manual-labor  system  is  attempted,  it  should  be 
carefully  adjusted  to  the  demands  of  scientific  and  prac- 
tical education.  The  question  at  once  arises  what  this 
manual  labor  should  be.  There  are  two  theories,  of 
244 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

which  the  first  is  that  its  entire  aim  should  be  to  give 
the  means  to  students  of  supporting  themselves,  that 
a  profitable  farm  on  a  very  large  scale  should  enable 
a  large  number  of  students  to  support  themselves  by 
agriculture,  and  that  workshops  on  a  large  scale  for 
the  manufacturing  of  some  simple  fabrics  of  universal 
consumption  should  enable  a  large  number  of  students 
to  support  themselves  by  mechanic  arts;  that  in  both 
these  cases  the  main  theory  should  be  self-supporting 
industry  and  not  educational  industry.  The  second 
theory  is,  that  the  primary  object  of  the  manual  labor 
in  both  departments  should  be  educational ;  that  is,  that 
the  work  should  be  first  of  all  done  with  a  view  to  per- 
fect the  student  in  the  best  processes  and  to  make  him 
scientifically  and  practically  a  first-class  agriculturist 
and  mechanic.  While  the  first  of  these  theories  may 
at  times  be  desirable,  the  second  is  essential,  and  all 
schools  which  are  destined  to  be  permanently  successful 
must  be  founded  upon  the  fact  that  aid  given  to  them  by 
individuals  is  not  to  assist  ten,  twenty,  or  fifty  young 
people  to  support  themselves,  but  to  enable  hundreds  of 
them  to  obtain  a  thorough  practical  and  scientific  educa- 
tion, in  order  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  nation." 

Many  years  of  experimentation  were  needed  to  demon- 
strate the  truth  of  this  untried  theory  of  education,  and 
the  first  steps  in  verification  were  inevitably  uncertain 
and  tentative.  In  1870  Armstrong  had  said  :  "The  in- 
stitution should  be  polytechnic,  adding  new  industries  as 
the  old  shall  become  established  and  remunerative";  in 

245 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

1872  he  reported  that  "five  young  men  are  learning  print- 
ing," and  that  **a  blacksmith's  shop  has  been  added  to 
the  former  equipment";  in  1876  he  asked  for  $10,000  for 
a  mechanical  department;  in  1877  a  broom  factory  was 
opened  "at  a  cost  of  $350  for  machinery  and  instru- 
ments" ;  in  1878  a  total  of  forty  students  were  employed 
on  trades;  in  1879,  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  C.  P. 
Huntington,  a  sawmill  for  lumber  was  built,  and  it  was 
anticipated  that  it  would  be  not  only  a  lucrative  invest- 
ment, but  would  "give  employment  to  twenty  or  twenty- 
five  students."  In  1884  further  industries  were  added — 
a  machine-shop,  a  shoe-shop,  a  paint-shop,  a  knitting 
department — and  in  1886  a  more  systematized  training  in 
carpentering  and  blacksmithing,  and  an  Indian  Training- 
Shop,  where  there  should  be  a  "technical  round,"  includ- 
ing for  each  Indian  instruction  in  the  blacksmith's,  wheel- 
wright's, and  carpenter's  trades  "to  meet  the  needs  of 
the  reservations,  where  people  are  far  removed  from 
the  centres  of  civilization,  and  are  at  the  mercy  of  such 
mechanics  as  may  come  to  them,  or  are  deprived  entirely 
of  the  conveniences  which  they  alone  can  create." 

Yet,  though  Armstrong  himself  saw  as  in  a  vision  the 
future  of  his  work,  and  though  throughout  his  administra- 
tion the  number  and  scope  of  industries  steadily  increased, 
there  was  in  few  minds  a  clear  appreciation  of  the  moral 
significance  and  the  educational  possibilities  of  indus- 
trial education.  An  increasing  demand  for  skilled  labor 
throughout  the  Southern  States  encouraged  the  com- 
mercial estimate  of  all  such  training,  and  the  wages  which 
246 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

might  be  earned  by  a  graduate  of  Hampton  in  bricklay- 
ing or  housework  seemed  to  many  observers  the  justifi- 
cation of  a  trade-school  or  a  department  of  home-eco- 
nomics. Finally,  under  the  firm  guidance  of  the  second 
Principal,  and  through  a  varied  experience  of  success  and 
failure,  the  original  ideal  became  clarified  and  reaffirmed. 
The  principle  was  definitely  accepted  that  these  shops 
and  classes  were  maintained,  not  as  sources  of  profit,  but 
as  factors  in  an  Education  for  Life.  Young  men  and 
women  were  not  to  be  regarded  as  satisfactory  products 
of  Hampton  Institute  because  each  could  do  one  thing 
and  get  good  wages  for  doing  it ;  but  because  each  had 
been  trained  to  apply  mind  and  will  to  the  single  task, 
and  had  made  it  not  only  a  way  of  living  but  a  way  of 
life. 

This  humanized  conception  of  industrial  education 
brought  the  Trade-School  into  a  new  correlation  with  aca- 
demic studies.  To  accomplish  this  larger  aim  there  must 
be  intelligence  as  well  as  dexterity,  knowledge  of  the  world 
and  of  its  needs  as  well  as  technical  skill  in  production. 
In  short,  the  trade  was  for  the  person  rather  than  the 
person  for  the  trade.  When  in  1896,  through  the  munifi- 
cence of  Morris  K.  Jesup  and  other  friends,  re-enforced 
by  an  annual  stipend  from  the  John  F.  Slater  Fund,  a 
new  and  adequate  building  for  a  Trade-School  was  erected 
(and  doubled  in  size  in  1909),  and  in  1898  a  Domestic 
Science  Building  was  set  by  its  side,  both  of  these  spacious 
and  well-equipped  structures  represented  this  humanized 
conception  of  manual   labor   as  the   handmaid   of  life. 

247 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Successive  reports  in  1903  and  the  following  years  em- 
phasized this  discrimination.  "A  closer  correlation  has 
been  established,"  it  was  said,  "between  the  various 
trades  and  industries  and  the  academic  department. 
A  student-carpenter  is  given,  in  addition  to  a  thorough 
course  in  that  subject,  some  knowledge  of  painting,  tin- 
ning, and  bricklaying,  so  that  he  is  fitted  to  build  a  house 
when  necessary  without  the  aid  of  other  mechanics. 
Academic  instruction  is  every  year  more  closely  related 
to  the  industrial  departments.  The  problems  of  arith- 
metic are  taken  from  the  work  of  the  shop  and  the  farm ; 
the  work  in  English  has  to  do  largely  with  the  everyday 
experiences  of  students;  agriculture  and  geography  are 
closely  connected ;  the  art  instruction  is  related  to  the 
work  of  the  manual-training  classes.  .  .  .  The  Trade- 
School  continues  to  emphasize  the  educative  value  of 
an  all-round  training,  rather  than  the  money  value  of  the 
product  (1903).  .  .  .  The  intellectual  ability  of  the 
students  has  been  increased  rather  than  diminished  by 
giving  them  more  trade-work  (1904).  .  .  .  The  aim  of 
the  Trade-School  is  not  only  the  careful  teaching  of 
trades,  but  also  the  development  of  mind  and  character. 
.  .  .  The  requirements  of  a  higher  academic  standing 
for  entrance  to  the  Trade-School  has  apparently  resulted 
in  fewer  students  dropping  out  during  their  course. 
.  .  .  By  having  entrance  requirements  equivalent  to 
the  completion  of  a  grammar-school  course  and  by 
adopting  a  four-year  curriculum,  the  trade-student  com- 
pletes a  course  recognized  by  the  State  Department  of 
248 


HUNTINGTON   MEMORIAL   LIBRARY 


onp:  wing  of  thk  armstroncj-slaikr  memorial  trade 

SCHOOL 

This  building  has  60,000  feet  of  floor  space.     Its  second  story  was  built  by 
trade  students  without  stopping  work  in  any  department. 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Education  (Va.)  as  a  full  four-year  secondary  course" 
(1917).  "It  is  the  policy  of  the  institution,"  Dr. 
Frissell  announced  in  his  last  Report,  *'to  give  its  di- 
ploma to  no  boy  or  girl  who  has  failed  to  gain  sufficient 
knowledge  and  ability  to  practice    some  vocation."  * 

The  evolution  of  this  ideal  of  industrial  education 
may  be  indicated  by  comparing  the  phrases  of  different 
Reports.  In  1872  Armstrong  wrote  :  "  It  [the  Academic 
Department]  is  the  leading  department,  to  which  all  the 
others  are  subsidiary."  In  1897  Frissell  had  advanced 
to  the  view  that:  "Instead  of  making  the  industrial  de- 
partments the  stepping-stone  to  the  academic  depart- 
ment, the  academic  department  is  now  made  the  step- 
ping-stone to  the  industrial  and  trade  work."  Finally, 
in  1904,  the  same  leader  reaches  the  conviction  that : 
"After  careful  comparison  of  a  system  in  which  work  in 
the  shop  is  put  first  and  academic  studies  made  subsidi- 
ary, and  the  one  in  which  academic  instruction  Is  put 
first  and  hand-work  made  subsidiary,  the  whole  corps  of 
teachers  agree  that  the  former  results  in  a  greater  gain 
in  character,  in  initiative,  and  in  intellectual  force." 

It  will  at  once  be  observed  that  this  conception  of  in- 
dustrial training,  though  it  may  be  educative  to  the  in- 
dividual, is  likely  to  be  expensive  to  the  school.  When 
a  student  in  carpentering,  for  example,  is  shifted,  as  his 
education  proceeds,  from  one  job  to  another  and  taken 
away  from  his  work  for  academic  instruction ;  or  when  a 
girl,  after  being  for  some  weeks  or  months  in  the  kitchen, 

*  49th  Report  of  Principal,  1917. 

249 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

is  transferred  to  the  laundry,  and  thence  to  the  house- 
keeper's department,  to  complete  her  training  as  a  home- 
maker,  the  boy  or  girl  may  be  developed  into  a  more 
efficient  worker,  but  the  work  itself  is  likely  to  be  less 
effectively  or  economically  done.  Much  mechanical 
labor  needs  little  more  than  facility  and  habit,  and  many 
employers  would  distrust  a  system  which  did  not  hold  the 
worker  to  a  single  operation,  and  deal  with  him  as  with 
one  cog  in  the  machine.  In  many  a  modern  factory  one 
sees  long  rows  of  men  and  women,  each  laboring  through 
the  day  on  a  fragment  of  the  complete  product,  or  in 
an  unceasing  succession  of  operations  which  develop 
increasing  dexterity  in  the  hands,  but  increasing  numb- 
ness in  the  brain.  That  is  what  accomplishes  in  such 
establishments  the  maximum  of  production,  and  its 
results  are  often  viewed  with  pride  as  monuments  of 
efficiency.  The  testimony  of  an  Indian  concerning  the 
effect  of  manual  labor  as  distinguished  from  manual 
education  is  convincing.  "I  worked  two  years,"  he  says, 
"turning  a  washing  machine  in  a  Government  school, 
to  reduce  the  running  expenses  of  the  institution.  It  did 
not  take  long  to  learn  how  to  run  the  machine,  and  the 
rest  of  the  two  years  I  nursed  a  growing  hatred  for  it,"  * 
Precisely  the  opposite  of  this  is  trade-education  as 
conceived,  gradually  developed,  and  finally  realized  at 
Hampton  Institute.  It  is  a  development  of  the  person 
through  the  trade,  rather  than  a  development  of  the 
trade  through  the  person.     The  product  is  not  primarily 

*  Henry  Roe  Cloud,  Lake  Mohonk  Conference  Report,  1914,  p.  86. 
250 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

goods,  but  goodness;  not  so  much  profit  as  personality. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  less  effective  method  for  forms  of  busi- 
ness which  do  not  need  or  desire  a  human  factor  or  a 
trained  mind,  and  which  are  more  lucrative  as  wage- 
earners  become  more  impersonal  and  automatic.  The 
maintenance  of  a  more  humanized  system  is  necessarily 
more  exacting,  and  often  more  expensive.  But  if,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  aim  of  education  is  life ;  if  there  are 
many  trades  which  still  call  for  initiative,  inventiveness, 
originality,  versatility,  or  fidelity;  if  the  man  with  the 
hoe  can  get  more  from  the  land  if  he  be  at  the  same  time 
a  man  with  an  understanding  of  the  rotation  of  crops  and 
the  qualities  of  the  soil;  if,  indeed,  he  has  become  no 
longer  a  man  with  a  hoe,  but  a  man  with  a  tractor ;  if  a 
girl  be  trained  not  only  to  teach  the  elements  of  knowl- 
edge, but  to  advise  in  the  home  and  the  kitchen  and  the 
sick-room, — then  these  students  become  delivered  from 
the  benumbing  conditions  of  modern  industry  by  the 
emancipating  and  humanizing  effect  of  the  Hampton 
scheme  of  industrial  training ;  and  those  who  are  thus 
initiated  in  a  large  view  of  their  small  opportunities  are 
likely  to  find  their  way,  not  only  to  those  occupations 
which  are  still  open  at  the  top,  but  to  those  resources 
of  happiness  which  are  discovered  when  work  has  become 
a  vocation,  and  labor  has  contributed  to  life. 

This  interior  expansion  of  Hampton  Institute  in  curricu- 
lum and  equipment  has  not,  however,  been  the  most 
characteristic  or  significant  indication  of  its  vitality  and 
progress.     A  missionary  enterprise  must  justify  itself,  not 

251 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

by  its  plant  or  its  numbers,  but  by  the  character  of  its 
output  and  the  efficiency  of  its  service  for  a  community 
or  a  world.  The  capacity  in  its  ideals  for  self-propaga- 
tion is  the  test  of  success  in  its  work.  What  is  called  in 
medicine  the  "end-result  system"  must  be  applied,  and 
each  case  followed  to  its  consequences.  The  contribution 
of  graduates  to  their  community  or  their  race  is  the  chief 
asset  of  the  school. 

The  first  sign  of  this  leavening  process  in  the  history 
of  Hampton  was  in  the  sense  of  responsibility  soon  de- 
veloped for  the  welfare  of  communities  immediately 
environing  the  school.  In  1882  the  Annual  Report 
states  that  "Bible  readers  are  sent  out  and  investiga- 
tions made  of  cases  of  destitution.  Nearly  five  hundred 
dollars  has  been  raised  for  the  help  of  destitute  people." 
In  1892  it  is  said:  "Students  do  personal  work,  visit- 
ing the  poor."  In  1898  "the  students*  work  in  the  jail, 
poor-house,  cabins,  and  Sunday-schools"  is  noted.  In 
1903  the  Commandant  reports:  "Every  student  is 
trained  not  alone  that  he  may  make  a  better  citizen, 
but  that  he  may  devote  himself  to  the  welfare  of  his 
people.  This,  in  my  opinion,  accounts  in  large  meas- 
ure for  the  lack  of  friction,  and  for  the  absence  of  much 
misconduct  among  the  Hampton  students."  In  1908  the 
Chaplain  states  :  "  The  jail,  the  poor-house,  and  the  cabins 
of  the  old  and  poor  are  visited  every  week.  Cabins  are 
repaired,  and  gardens  made  for  the  helpless.  In  religion 
as  in  education  the  students  are  taught  to  learn  by  doing." 
In  1910  the  neighborhood  had  been  "divided  into  five 
252 


o 


w 
u 
o 
p^ 

< 

Q 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

districts,  each  in  charge  of  a  Hampton  teacher.  Each 
visitor  calls  and  collects  money  for  savings-bank  accounts, 
establishes  sewing-clubs  and  Sunday-schools,  cares  for  the 
sick,  attends  to  the  destitute,  provides  for  funerals."  In 
short,  that  utilization  of  education  which  is  elsewhere 
known  as  university  extension  soon  assumed  at  Hampton 
the  form  of  practical  service  for  the  community  and,  as 
is  always  the  case  with  such  self-forgetting  service,  re- 
acted on  the  character  of  the  givers.  "The  staying- 
power  of  the  school's  graduates,"  the  Report  of  191 5 
says,  "is  due  largely  to  the  emphasis  placed  on  Christian 
service."  "Service  done  by  the  students  on  Sundays,  in 
mission  Sunday-schools,  in  the  cabins,  the  poor-house, 
and  the  jail,"  says  the  Report  of  1916,  "gives  them  a 
taste  of  missionary  work  which  influences  them  through 
life." 

A  second  step  in  this  external  expansion  was  taken 
when  a  systematic  and  continuous  relation  was  estab- 
lished between  the  school  and  its  graduates,  and  the 
re-enforcement  of  their  lives  became  a  recognized  func- 
tion of  administration.  "A  guild  of  high-minded  work- 
ers," Armstrong  wrote  in  1878,  "will  make  of  our  gradu- 
ates civilizers  rather  than  mere  pedagogues";  and  again 
in  1892:  "Our  graduates  are,  as  a  rule,  apostles  of  good 
farming  and  decent  home  living.  All  the  more  need  is 
there  of  a  head,  a  centre  of  inspiration  and  suggestion." 
"The  record  of  Hampton  graduates,"  Dr.  Curry  reported 
in  1884  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Peabody  Fund,  "is  the 
test  of  Hampton's  success."     Thus  a  Graduate  Depart- 

253 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

ment  came  to  be  organized,  and  in  1894  a  competent 
adviser,  himself  a  graduate,  undertook  the  visitation 
and  encouragement  of  other  graduates,  reporting  "whether 
they  are  teachers,  farmers,  or  mechanics ;  whether  they 
are  prospering,  and  if  so,  whether  mortgaged  and  how, 
and  the  conditions  of  the  people  among  whom  they  hve 
and  labor."  Here  was  the  beginning  of  a  "Continuation 
School,"  regulated  by  a  "graduates'  correspondent,"  and 
expanding  its  operations  of  encouragement  and  counsel 
from  year  to  year.  Each  student  on  entering  the  school 
passes  a  physical  examination,  and  puts  on  record  his 
general  history,  and  after  graduation  he  receives  each 
year  a  letter  of  inquiry  from  the  Principal,  concerning 
his  progress  in  life. 

This  expanded  responsibility  has  carried  with  it  an 
expansion  of  its  own.  A  Summer  School,  with  an  at- 
tendance in  1917  of  429;  a  Ministers'  Conference,  with 
an  enrolment  in  191 7  of  71 ;  travelling  libraries;  agri- 
cultural clubs  ;  farmers'  conferences ;  teachers'  institutes  ; 
movements  to  lengthen  the  rural-school  terms ;  classes 
in  home  economics;  "Hampton  Leaflets"  on  sanitation, 
health,  manual  training,  nature  study,  and  similar  topics  ; 
an  anti-tuberculosis  crusade;  conferences  with  school 
superintendents,  supervisors,  and  farm-demonstration 
agents ;  clean-up  campaigns ; — these,  and  many  other  ac- 
tivities radiating  from  a  single  centre,  have  made  of 
Hampton  Institute  a  kind  of  power-house,  transmitting 
energy  to  remote  or  discouraged  teachers  and  keeping  the 
light  of  service  burning  in  many  modest  schools  and  homes. 

254 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

How  are  these  graduates,  thus  reporting  themselves 
each  year,  occupied  ?  What  vocations  do  they  enter  ? 
The  great  majority  throughout  the  fifty  years  of  the 
school's  work  have,  as  might  have  been  anticipated,  be- 
come teachers.  In  1880  ninety  per  cent  were  thus  em- 
ployed; and  thirty-seven  years  later,  in  1917,  the  same 
proportion  of  women-graduates,  excluding  those  who  are 
married  and  housekeepers,  were  enlisted  in  the  same 
calling.  As  opportunities  in  agriculture  or  trades  have 
multiplied,  the  proportion  of  men  giving  their  lives  to  the 
profession  of  teaching  has  naturally  diminished,  though, 
as  the  following  table  for  1916  indicates,  it  still  remains 
their  normal  career. 

Occupations  of  Negro  Graduates 

Men 

Teaching         239 

Agriculture  (not  teaching  agriculture)  48 

Trades  (not  teaching  trades)     ...  93 
The   professions   (ministry,   medicine, 

law) icx> 

Business 33 

Clerks 89 

Hotel  workers 75 

Students 25 

Miscellaneous 6 

Unknown 74 

Dead 242         1024 

255 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Women 

Teaching 300 

Other  work  (unmarried) 39 

Married  (housekeeping)          ....  234 

Married  (not  housekeeping)        ...  32 

Students 7 

Unknown         24 

Dead 122    758 

Total  number  of  graduates         .     .     .  1782 

Graduates  teaching,  1916-1917       .     .  539 

Some  of  these  graduate-teachers  have  risen  to  positions 
of  responsibiHty  in  city  schools,  as  in  Lynchburg  and 
Roanoke,  Va.,  in  IndianapoHs,  Indiana,  and  Kansas  City, 
Missouri.  At  Winchester,  Va.,  the  principalship  of  the 
colored  schools  has  been  held  for  forty-one  years  by 
graduates  of  Hampton ;  and  of  Kansas  City  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  reports  that  "Manual  training  was 
first  introduced  into  the  educational  system  of  that  place 
by  a  teacher  bringing  with  him  the  Hampton  training." 

Two-thirds  of  the  students  at  Hampton,  however,  still 
come  from  rural  life,  and  if  at  their  graduation  they 
become  teachers  they  naturally  and  generously  return 
to  the  conditions  with  which  they  are  familiar,  and  dedi- 
cate themselves  to  the  modest  tasks  of  country-schools. 
The  stars  on  the  accompanying  map  (published  about 
1894)  indicate  the  expansion  and  distribution  of  this 
unambitious  service ;  and  at  each  point  of  light  a  Hamp- 
ton graduate,  who  had  been  instructed,  not  only  in  the 
256 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 


257 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

elements  of  academic  study,  but  in  manual  training  and 
agriculture,  in  personal  hygiene  and  personal  piety,  was 
not  only  a  teacher,  but  an  adviser  in  the  homes  of  pu- 
pils, a  parents'  assistant  and  Sunday-school  leader,  trans- 
mitting the  Hampton  tradition  of  community-service, 
and  in  many  instances  remaining  through  a  lifetime  with 
increasing  influence  at  the  same  post.  "To  the  teacher," 
reports  the  most  competent  among  the  supervisors  of 
this  work,  "the  people  look  for  almost  everything."* 
"When  I  registered  at  Hampton,"  writes  a  woman- 
graduate,  "I  thought  I  was  well  acquainted  with  the 
three  R's,  but  I  have  found  that  the  three  R's  of  im- 
portance are  Religion,  Respect  for  Rules,  and  Re- 
sponsibility." 

A  third  area  of  influence  was  reached  when  this  re- 
enforcement  of  individuals  was  succeeded  by  corporate 
undertakings  ;  and  schools,  or  enterprises  of  social  amelio- 
ration, were  established  either  by  graduates  or  through 
their  counsel  and  co-operation.  The  most  distinguished 
case  of  this  filial  association  is  Tuskegee  Institute,  con- 
ceived and  developed  by  one  son  of  Hampton,  and  now 
committed  to  the  sane  and  sagacious  leadership  of  another. 
Here,  where  in  1881  a  single  teacher  and  thirty  pupils 
met  in  a  decrepit  church  building,  there  were  in  191 7  a 
staffs  of  198  and  a  registration  of  1595  students  (950  boys, 
645  girls).  Both  the  financial  and  industrial  direction  of 
this  great  establishment  still  largely  remain  in  the  hands 
of  Hampton  graduates,  and  of  the  present  working  staff  28 

*  W.  T.  B.  Williams,  Report  on  Hampton  Graduates,  1917. 
258 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

have  been  there  trained.  When  Hampton  Institute  freely 
surrendered  its  Commandant  to  the  great  work  begun 
by  Booker  Washington,  Dr.  Frissell  said  of  his  colleague : 
"He  is  one  of  the  rarest  souls  I  have  ever  known,  regard- 
less of  race.  He  understands  white  people  and  has 
helped  me  to  understand  the  colored  people" ;  and  when, 
a  little  later,  Major  Moton  spoke  at  the  funeral  of  his 
Chief,  he  said  with  not  less  affection  :  "There  has  scarcely 
been  a  thought,  certainly  not  a  serious  act,  of  my  life 
during  the  past  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  that  has  not 
been  influenced  or  directed  by  what  I  thought  Dr.  Frissell 
would  like  to  have  me  do."  The  filial  loyalty  of  Tuskegee 
is,  thus,  not  merely  institutional,  but  personal.  What 
Armstrong  was  to  Washington,  that  Frissell  became  to 
Moton.  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  can  never  be  rivals ; 
they  are  associated  in  the  domestic  unity  of  an  affec- 
tionate parent  and  a  rapidly  maturing  child. 

The  Penn  School,  on  St.  Helena  Island  in  South  Caro- 
lina, antedates  in  its  origin  all  other  undertakings  of 
Northern  philanthropists  for  the  colored  race.  In  the 
first  year  of  the  Civil  War  the  United  States  Government 
despatched  a  special  agent  to  take  possession  of  the  Sea 
Islands,  with  their  precious  cotton-crop  which  had  been 
abandoned  by  the  planters.  With  the  cotton  there  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Government  thousands  of  helpless 
and  deserted  Negroes;  and  in  April  1862,  Miss  Laura  M. 
Towne  of  Philadelphia,  with  her  friend  Miss  Ellen  Murray, 
volunteered  as  agents  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  of 
Philadelphia  to  open  a  school.     Of  the  eighty  scholars 

259 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

first  collected,  Miss  Towne  wrote :  "They  had  no  idea 
of  sitting  still,  of  giving  attention,  of  ceasing  to  talk 
aloud.  They  lay  down  and  went  to  sleep ;  they  scuffled 
and  struck  each  other.  They  got  up  by  the  dozen,  made 
their  curtsies,  and  walked  off  to  the  neighboring  fields 
for  blackberries,  coming  back  to  their  seats  with  a  curtsey 
when  they  were  ready.  They  evidently  did  not  under- 
stand me,  and  I  could  not  understand  them."  *  Fear- 
lessly and  patiently  these  two  women  persisted  in  their 
task — tending  the  sick  in  epidemics,  instructing  families 
in  sanitation  and  thrift,  and  laying  the  foundation  of  a 
stable  and  beautiful  work.  When,  after  thirty-eight 
years  of  service.  Miss  Towne,  in  1901,  was  about  to  die, 
she  committed  her  charge  to  the  wisdom  of  Dr.  Frissell, 
and  the  Penn  School  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Hamp- 
ton tradition.  Two  white  teachers  from  the  Hampton 
staff  migrated  to  this  remote  and  isolated  outpost.  The 
Hampton  title,  "Normal  and  Agricultural  School"  was 
adopted ;  the  Principal  of  Hampton  became  President 
of  the  newly  organized  Board  of  Trustees ;  and  of  the 
27  teachers  and  workers  employed  in  191 7,  25  were  repre- 
sentatives of  Hampton. 

Much  the  same  story  might  be  told  of  the  Calhoun 
School  in  Alabama — "De  Mornin'-Star,"  as  it  was  de- 
scribed by  its  black  neighbors — ;  established  by  white 
teachers  from  Hampton  in  1892  and  having  in  191 7, 
of  its  36  teachers  and  workers,  12  graduates  or  former 
students  of  Hampton.     The  St.  Paul  Industrial  School 

*  Letters  and  Diary  of  Laura  M.  Towne,  1912,  pp.  xv  fF. 
260 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

in  Lawrenceville,  Va.,  one  of  the  largest  industrial  schools 
for  colored  people  in  the  United  States,  with  five  hun- 
dred students  in  1916,  has  as  its  principal  a  Hampton 
ex-student  with  five  "Hamptonians"  on  his  staff.  The 
People's  Village  School  at  Mt,  Meigs,  Alabama,  is  the 
monument  of  a  Hampton  woman-graduate,  who,  having 
taught  at  Calhoun,  proceeded  to  another  community 
in  the  Black  Belt,  and,  beginning  her  work  in  1893 
in  a  building  "fifty  years  old,  and  with  creaking  walls 
and  broken  windows,"  had  in  191 3  three  buildings, 
"clean  and  in  fairly  good  repair,"  and  an  enrolment 
of  279  students.  The  Gloucester  Agricultural  and  In- 
dustrial School  and  the  FrankHn  Normal  and  Industrial 
Institute,  in  Virginia,  both  have  Hampton  graduates 
as  their  Principals.  In  the  exhaustive  study  of  Negro 
Education,  issued  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion in  1917  and  compiled  with  convincing  thoroughness 
and  candor  by  Dr.  Thomas  Jesse  Jones  and  his  associates, 
the  equipment  and  resources  of  each  school  are  described, 
and  it  is  satisfactory  to  observe  that  the  verdict  on  the 
children  of  Hampton  is  invariably  favorable.  "Well 
managed";  "Good  work  is  done";  "Marked  influence 
on  its  section  of  the  State,"  are  the  estimates  reached  by 
a  competent  and  discriminating  observer  of  these  bearers 
of  the  Hampton  tradition. 

In  this  process  of  radio-activity,  transmitting  waves 
of  influence  from  a  single  station  in  widening  circles  of 
communication,  the  expansion  of  Hampton  finally  reaches 
many  undertakings  which  are  not  rigidly  educational  in 

261 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 


262 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

their  form,  but  which  have  enUsted  graduates  of  the 
school  in  enterprises  of  social  service.  A  few  illustrations 
of  these  more  remote  afl&liations  are  sufficient  to  indicate 
their  variety  and  scope. 

A  "People's  Building  and  Loan  Association"  was 
formed  by  a  Hampton  graduate  in  1889  in  the  town  of 
Hampton,  and  in  191 7  had  a  membership  of  700  stock- 
holders and  a  paid-in  capital  of  $174,500.  More  than  400 
homes  of  Negroes  in  and  about  Hampton  had  been  built 
with  its  funds,  and  throughout  its  twenty-eight  years 
of  existence  it  has  annually  paid  a  dividend  of  seven  per 
cent.  Of  its  fifteen  directors,  ten  are  Hampton  graduates. 
The  "Bay  Shore  Seaside  Resort"  comprises  a  hotel  of 
40  rooms,  with  its  pavilion,  cafe,  and  bathing  beach  front- 
ing Chesapeake  Bay,  and  provides  a  welcome  place  of 
refreshment  for  colored  visitors.  The  president,  secre- 
tary, and  several  members  of  the  board  of  trustees  are 
Hampton  graduates,  and  its  proceeds,  though  sufficient 
for  dividends,  have  thus  far  been  applied  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  plant.  A  "Virginia  Negro  Organization 
Society"  was  organized  by  suggestion  of  Dr.  Frissell 
in  1909,  with  the  comprehensive  intention  to  "build 
better  schoolhouses,  lengthen  terms,  create  and  promote 
a  general  interest  in  education  and  co-operation  between 
school  and  community ;  to  improve  the  health  of  the 
people  by  enlightening  the  public  on  the  causes  and  pre- 
vention of  diseases,  and  by  seeking  to  establish  better 
health  conditions  at  home  and  at  all  public  meeting- 
places  ;    to  secure  co-operation  among  farmers  in  buying 

263 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  selling  products ;  to  enliven  their  consciences  to  the 
necessity  of  better  methods  of  farming,  and  to  encourage 
land-buying;  to  wage  an  unceasing  campaign  for  better 
homes  and  better  morals;  and  thus  to  develop  a  higher 
type  of  citizenship."  It  publishes  Health  Bulletins, 
promotes  Health  Creeds  and  Pledges,  and  in  its  five 
annual  ** Clean-up"  movements  it  has  induced  more 
than  4CX>,cxx)  Negroes  to  apply  themselves  to  the  sanita- 
tion and  embellishment  of  their  homes.  Education  and 
health  campaigns  are  undertaken  by  agents  of  the  society, 
carrying  with  them  the  Hampton  message  of  initiative 
and  self-help;  and  the  school's  schooner,  the  Hampton, 
was  utilized  to  reach  remote  communities  accessible  only 
by  sea. 

A  movement  to  provide  better  homes  for  the  Negroes 
of  Norfolk  has  created  a  suburban  community  on  favor- 
able terms  of  ownership  and  with  adequate  provision  of 
church  and  school,  which  has  been  re-enforced  by  the 
counsel  and  financial  support  of  Hampton  trustees  and 
friends,  and  has  been  in  large  part  built  up  by  its  Trade- 
School  students.  The  conditions  of  life  among  Negroes  in 
Gloucester  County,  Va.,  have  been  studied  by  Hampton 
graduates,  and  an  organized  effort  made  to  reduce  il- 
literacy, lengthen  the  school-term,  promote  the  owner- 
ship of  land,  and  lift  the  general  level  of  social  life ;  and 
as  a  result  one-eighth  of  the  land-values,  and  one-seventh 
of  the  value  of  buildings  have  come  into  the  hands  of 
Negroes,  and  of  the  fifteen  arrests  for  misdemeanor  in 
the  county  in  1914,  fourteen  were  white,  and  one  colored. 
264 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

A  Hampton  woman-graduate  who  had  already  created 
a  beneficent  Settlement  in  the  town  of  Hampton,  was 
appointed  in  1914  Superintendent  of  the  Industrial 
Home  School  for  Dehnquent  Colored  Girls  in  Hanover 
County,  Va.,  and  other  graduates  serve  with  her  as  farmer, 
matron,  and  superintendent  of  industries.  Of  the  re- 
sults obtained  the  representative  of  the  State  Board  of 
Charities  reports  that  "she  would  not  have  known  these 
girls  for  the  same  incorrigibles  which  she  had  tried  in 
vain  to  place  in  families  before." 

Nor  can  this  story  of  expansion  pause  within  the 
limits  of  a  single  State  or  a  single  country.  From  year 
to  year  a  continuous  and  broadening  stream  of  visitors 
and  of  correspondence  from  other  lands  has  flowed  toward 
Hampton  Institute,  and  has  borne  away  an  acquaintance 
with  its  methods  and  spirit  to  refresh  and  fertilize  distant 
work.  The  distinguished  Irishman,  Sir  Horace  Plunkett, 
with  his  gospel  of  rural  co-operation ;  the  Inspector- 
General  of  Education  from  Mysore,  India,  gathering 
material  for  a  chapter  in  his  report ;  a  friend  of  Cecil 
Rhodes,  comparing  conditions  among  Negroes  in  the 
Southern  States  with  those  in  South  Africa ;  a  Negro 
from  Sierra  Leone,  promoting  industrial  education  among 
his  people ;  Belgians,  Swiss,  Germans,  and  English ; 
directors  of  manual-training;  correspondents  in  Bom- 
bay, Ceylon,  Madras,  Orange  Free  State,  Honolulu, 
China,  Brazil,  Persia,  and  Mexico, — all  these  and  many 
other  students  and  experts  have  frankly  applied  to  their 
various  undertakings  the  lessons  they  have  learned  from 

265 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Hampton,  and  have  gladly  testified  to  their  applicability 
in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

Thus  from  China  comes  this  testimony:  "I  have  just 
seen  Chong  Wing  Kung,  one  of  the  great  scholars  of  South 
China  and  Dean  of  the  Canton  Christian  College,  reading 
with  interest  the  life  of  a  Hampton  graduate.  .  .  .  Both 
students  and  teachers  here  study  the  work  of  Hampton 
Institute,  because  .  .  .  they  see  that  Hampton  principles 
are  the  means  needed  in  the  making  of  a  new  China." 
Concerning  India,  the  Foreign  Secretary  of  the  Mission 
Board  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America  testifies : 
"It  was  proposed  by  a  deputation  of  officers  of  British 
Mission  Societies  to  visit  this  country  with  a  special 
view  to  a  careful  study  of  conditions  at  Hampton  In- 
stitute and  their  applicability  to  industrial  missionary 
operations  in  India.  This  has  been  prevented  by  condi- 
tions of  the  War."  The  Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  reports  that  "Hampton  has 
worked  out  not  only  a  great  home-missionary  problem, 
but  one  of  the  fundamental  problems  of  foreign  missions 
as  well.  There  is  scarcely  a  foreign  mission  field  on 
which,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  the  work  of  Hampton 
Institute  has  not  had  its  eflPect."  From  Ceylon  comes  this 
testimony  :  **It  was  the  inspiration  of  the  work  at  Hampton 
that  prompted  the  plan  of  sending  out  to  India  an  unoflfi- 
cial  deputation  to  consider  afresh  some  of  the  problems 
of  educational  work  in  that  country."  Of  Africa,  the 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
^  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  writes:  "The  Con- 
266 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

ference  on  Africa,  which  has  been  in  session  during  the 
last  week,  has  more  than  once  emphasized  the  value  of 
the  influence  of  Hampton  Institute  upon  the  ideals  and 
programmes  of  our  work.  In  the  plans  we  are  develop- 
ing in  Angola,  Inhambane,  Rhodesia,  and  the  lower 
Belgian  Congo,  the  inspiration  of  the  history  and  methods 
of  Hampton  Institute  has  been  potent"  ;  and  the  Foreign 
Secretary  of  the  American  Board  says  :  "We  have  been 
in  the  habit  of  sending  missionaries  down  to  Hampton 
Institute  for  a  period  of  observation,  in  order  to  catch 
the  spirit  and  see  the  methods  that  are  used  there.  In 
this  way  the  Institute  has  influenced  directly  and  in- 
directly the  work  of  this  Board  in  every  one  of  its  missions 
in  Africa,  as  well  as  in  India  and  parts  of  Turkey." 

The  world  has  become  aware  through  the  tragic  cir- 
cumstances of  war  of  the  strategic  importance  of 
Saloniki,  but  as  early  as  1904  the  possibilities  of  that 
place  for  a  school  on  the  Hampton  plan  were  realized, 
and  the  Thessalonica  Agricultural  Institute  was  incor- 
porated. Its  products  were  very  difi^erent  from  those  of 
Virginia ;  silk-culture  and  vineyards  were  its  staple  in- 
dustries ;  but  it  gladly  recognized  its  lineage.  Its  Prin- 
cipal, in  describing  his  work,  calls  it  "A  Hampton  in 
Macedonia.  It  seems  to  fall  to  America,"  he  writes, 
"to  teach  the  nations  of  Europe  the  dignity  of  labor." 

More  convincing,  however,  than  these  general  evidences 
of  appreciation  are  many  instances  of  individual  lives 
which  have  carried  with  them,  often  under  dramatic  or 
romantic  circumstances,  the  influence  of  the  Hampton 

267 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

training  to  remote  foreign  fields.  A  young  man,  for 
example,  following  the  practice  of  the  school,  enlists  in 
mission  work  at  Hampton,  and  on  leaving  Hampton 
hears  the  call  to  service  in  the  black  continent  of  Africa. 
He  penetrates  more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  the 
West  Coast  to  a  hitherto  unexplored  country,  whose 
king  had  prohibited  all  foreigners  on  pain  of  death  from 
entering.  Here  he  lives  with  the  Bakuba,  learns  their 
language,  achieves  geographical  discoveries  which  pro- 
cure his  election  as  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society  of  London,  builds  a  church,  baptizes  sixty  con- 
verts at  once,  and  is  described  by  the  Journal  of  Missions 
as  one  who  "not  only  builds  churches,  preaches  the 
gospel,  and  beautifies  the  land,  but — like  Luke — is  also 
the  beloved  physician,  known,  loved,  and  revered  by 
the  nations  far  and  wide." 

Another  Hampton  student,  having  completed  in  1888 
his  three  years  of  training  as  shoemaker  and  blacksmith, 
together  with  Bible  study,  hears  a  call  to  serve  his  race 
in  Liberia.  Writing  from  that  country  six  years  later,  in 
1895,  he  says:  "I  take  great  pleasure  in  letting  you 
know  that  I  have  had  the  honor  of  erecting  the  first 
iron  bridge  in  this  Republic.  It  is  150  feet  long,  12 
feet  wide,  and  12  feet  high."  Nine  years  later,  in  1904, 
he  writes:  "I  have  been  trying  to  establish  work  on 
the  plan  of  Hampton.  The  school  is  undenominational 
in  character;  and  its  purpose  is  to  train  preachers, 
teachers,  and  leaders  for  the  Negro  in  Africa.  .  .  .  Farm- 
ing, carpentering,  cooking,  dressmaking,  fancy  work, 
268 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

photography,  housekeeping,  and  the  ordinary  EngHsh 
branches  are  taught.  .  .  .  There  are  about  one  hundred 
children  and  two  other  teachers  beside  myself."  This 
devoted  and  versatile  missionary  died  in  1907. 

A  Japanese  boy  finds  his  way  to  Hampton ;  is  baptized 
there ;  returns  for  mission  work  in  his  own  country ; 
starts  a  home-colony  to  teach  farming  and  housework ; 
and  writes  to  Dr.  Frissell  in  1903 :  "In  my  young 
heart  I  thought  the  Hampton  School  came  out  as 
easily  as  asparagus  from  its  roots;  but  now  I  under- 
stand that  the  price  of  the  Institute  is  the  price  of  the 
heart  and  blood  of  that  old  soldier.  If  he  were  now 
living,  I  wonder  what  he  would  say  to  me,  for  I  am 
doing  the  same  kind  of  work  as  the  General  did.  .  .  . 
Perhaps  you  may  forget  me;  but  I  am  the  one  that 
you  baptized  at  the  school  chapel  on  Christmas  morn 
1890.  ...  In  my  heart  there  is  no  denomination,  but 
I  am  a  Christian,  a  disciple  of  Christ." 

A  Zulu  Chief  in  South  Africa  sends  his  son  to  America ; 
and  friendly  missionaries  find  a  school  for  him  in  North 
Carolina.  "Two  of  my  teachers,"  he  says,  "in  that  school 
were  Hampton  graduates.  We  used  to  talk  about  Hamp- 
ton. They  told  me  about  it  until  I  could  imagine  what 
Hampton  stood  for.  ...  So  I  went  to  Hampton  in  Sep- 
tember 1907.  I  hope  to  carry  its  seeds  of  kindness  to 
the  forgotten  children  of  South  Africa,  to  whom  I  belong." 
He  married  a  Hampton  student;  returned  to  Zululand 
with  his  wife,  who  in  1915  writes  from  her  mission  station 
in  Natal :  "I  wish  you  could  hear  my  husband  preach"  ; 

269 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  he  adds:  "I  myself  have  the  trade  work — ^we  have 
one  good-sized  shop,  and  as  many  departments  in  that 
one  house  as  we  may  be  able  to  have.  We  cannot  have 
quite  as  many  as  Hampton  yet,  but  as  years  come  and 
go  we  do  not  know  what  God  may  do.  .  .  .  Our  little 
daughter  is  growing  fine.  You  can  almost  read  on  her 
forehead  :  Hampton." 

It  is  not  necessary  to  multiply  these  instances  of  edu- 
cational internationalism,  which  have  made  the  name  of 
Hampton  Institute  familiar  to  many  dark  races  and  still 
darker  continents,  where  graduate  teachers  have  fol- 
lowed the  open  road  which  led  from  Hampton  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  It  has  been  intimated  by  some  critics 
of  Hampton  that  the  type  of  education  there  encour- 
aged brings  its  students  into  a  "blind  alley";  qualifying 
them  for  the  humble  tasks  of  hand  labor,  but  opening  no 
path  to  advancement  for  exceptional  or  ambitious  lives. 
The  Hampton  graduate,  it  is  said,  is  doomed  to 
be  a  wage-earner  or  an  obscure  teacher,  and  the  prizes 
of  modern  life  remain  inaccessible  to  him.  Hampton 
Institute  thus  perpetuates,  it  is  argued,  the  tradition  of 
an  inferior  race,  which  may  be  patronized  by  benevolent 
whites,  but  remains  servile  and  dependent,  slaves  in  all 
but  the  name. 

It  must  be  frankly  admitted,  in  answer  to  such  criti- 
cism, that  there  are  many  careers  to  which  a  Negro 
has  a  right  to  aspire,  and  for  which  no  direct  prepa- 
ration is  as  yet  provided  at  Hampton.  The  vocations 
which  naturally  open  before  a  Hampton  graduate  are, 
270 


o 


w 


"C 

^ 

o 

4-> 

> 

i) 

n. 

r3 

O 

E 

w 

P 

rt 

(l> 

(U 

!% 

ac 

-C 

C 

Tl 

0) 

c 

o 

jii 

J= 

H 

rt 

rs 

c 

_Q 

is 

-a 

o 

O. 

4-« 

<*- 

S 

w 

'-' 

o 

■72 

•  — 

X 

>i 

E 

u 

w 

^i:i 

<«^ 

"O 

11) 

>>  3 

3 

o-j: 

C3 
CO 

>, 

-T3     0) 

o  ii  E 

'^    P^ 


U    C    <u 


<u  ?J   E  e 


^    •=  £  S  = 


i;  u  -T3 ' 


c« 


,  o 


o  S!  o 

-^  E  « 

o  o  =^  i:  > 

35  -^  ^ 8 
<"  3  t;  c  ^ 

^  o  '':£  i; 

"^      °  rt  !3 
^"S  "  >^ 

E  _C     lU       ,.« 

^■c  °.£  S 
E-o 


J^   *j   o 

§^     -5-5 
I-  t-  t,  -t^  j-> 


M-£    3J= 
(3   2    iuH 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

for  men,  either  academic  teaching,  agriculture,  or  one 
of  the  mechanic  arts,  or  the  teaching  of  those  arts;  and, 
for  women,  either  teaching,  or  domestic  science,  or  social 
service,  or  the  care  of  a  well-ordered  home.  It  is  also 
to  be  gravely  regretted  that  the  number  of  institutions 
expressly  designed  for  colored  youths  to  receive  a  definitely 
academic  training,  and  the  quality  of  most  of  these  in- 
stitutions, ^re  so  inadequate ;  and  it  is  not  unreasonable 
that  many  Negroes  should  be  restless  under  these  so-called 
"restrictions"  and  should  demand  that  the  privileges 
of  the  intellectual  life  shall  be  within  the  reach  of  all.  The 
universities  and  colleges  of  the  North,  though  their 
opportunities  are  open  to  Negroes,  and  though  it  is  es- 
timated that  five  hundred  such  students  were  registered 
in  them  during  1916,  are  remote  and  expensive,  and 
many  Negroes  are  deterred  from  this  migration  by  the 
apprehension  of  racial  prejudice.  It  is  a  situation  which 
justifies  dissatisfaction  and  from  which,  as  will  be  later 
indicated,  Hampton  may  offer  some  relief. 

Yet  in  spite  of  these  limitations  and  admissions  the 
theory  of  a  ** blind  alley"  at  Hampton  is  difficult  to  main- 
tain. Its  scope  of  service  does  not  comprise  the  whole  of 
life  ;  but  it  covers  that  large  area  which  is  occupied  by  the 
vast  majority  of  the  Negro  race,  where  efficiency,  integ- 
rity, and  thrift  are  of  more  importance  than  languages, 
philosophy,  and  professional  training.  Here  is  no  contro- 
versy with  other  ways  of  education,  but  a  division  of 
fields.  Here,  also,  leadership  is  needed,  and  the  way  is 
open,  not  only  to  usefulness,  but  to  distinction.     Students 

271 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

like  Booker  Washington  and  his  successor,  or  the  prin- 
cipals and  supervisors  of  schools  throughout  the  South, 
or  the  foreign  missionaries  whose  achievements  have  just 
been  described,  have  not  found  themselves  in  a  blind 
alley,  ending  in  a  blank  wall.  They  have  found  them- 
selves, on  the  contrary,  on  an  open  road ;  or,  more 
accurately,  on  a  ladder,  whose  foot  had  been  set  firmly 
on  the  ground  of  elementary  discipline,  but  up  which  a 
student  might  climb,  not  only  without  hindrance,  but 
with  a  steady  head.  The  expansion  of  Hampton  which 
has  been  hastily  traced  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  type  of  education  there  fostered  either 
hampers  or  degrades. 

Such  in  brief  outline,  and  without  even  allusion  to 
many  undertakings  which  may  justly  claim  to  represent 
the  same  tradition,  or  to  many  individuals  whose  sacri- 
ficial lives  tempt  one  to  narration,  is  the  story  of  the 
expansion  at  Hampton  during  the  last  twenty-four 
years.  It  is  primarily  both  in  its  interior  operation  and 
in  its  external  influence  a  monument  of  the  sagacity, 
persistency,  and  hopefulness  of  the  Principal,  whose  un- 
tiring advocacy  at  the  North  was  fruitful  in  money,  and 
whose  imperturbable  serenity  and  sympathy  touched 
the  heart  of  the  South.  The  position  he  gained  in  public 
esteem  was  gradually  recognized,  and  he  was  given  the 
honorary  degree  of  D.D.  by  Howard  University  in  1893, 
that  of  S.T.D.  by  Harvard  University  in  1900,  and  that 
of  LL.D  by  Yale  University  in  1901  and  by  Richmond 
College  in  1909. 
272 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

Yet  so  extended  and  comprehensive  an  influence 
could  not  have  been  achieved  without  devoted  co-oper- 
ation from  many  allies;  and  among  the  characteristics 
for  which  Frissell  will  be  long  remembered  one  of  the 
most  notable  was  his  winning  of  confidence  and  main- 
tenance of  loyalty  from  all  who  shared  with  him  his 
sacred  task.  No  visitor  to  the  school  has  failed  to  ob- 
serve the  peculiar  quality  of  self-effacing  service  which 
creates  what  is  called  the  Hampton  Spirit.  Many 
teachers  have  given  their  entire  lives  to  some  modest 
part  of  the  work  with  the  sustained  enthusiasm  of  a 
pure  missionary  zeal;  others  at  their  first  coming  have 
approached  the  school  as  offering  a  congenial  occupa- 
tion, only  to  discover  that  in  the  course  of  educating 
their  pupils  they  have  been  themselves  educated  in  the 
Hampton  spirit  of  happy  sacrifice  and  unconstrained 
disinterestedness.  They  have  found  themselves  in  losing 
themselves.  Their  own  burdens  have  been  lightened  as 
they  have  carried  the  heavier  burdens  of  other  lives. 
An  instructor  in  the  Trade  School,  on  being  asked  what 
influences  had  led  him  to  Hampton,  answered  that  the 
original  persuasion,  both  to  himself  and  his  wife,  had 
been  that  of  a  good  job  under  fair  conditions  and  in  a 
pleasant  climate;  but  he  added:  **That  is  not  at  all 
the  way  either  of  us  feels  about  it  now."  The  sense  of  a 
work  worth  doing,  of  a  constituency  worth  doing  it  for, 
and  of  a  rational  religious  life  expressed  each  day  in 
action  as  well  as  in  worship  or  song,  had  in  this  case,  as 
in  many  others,  acted  like  a  gentle  atmosphere  which 

273 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

one  feels  rather  than  analyzes,  and  to  which,  as  one 
lives  in  it,  one  comes  to  open  habitually  the  windows  of 
his  mind  and  heart.  Motives  of  self-interest  had  been 
supplanted  by  the  desire  for  service,  and  both  husband 
and  wife  had  found  a  climate  which  it  was  a  privilege  to 
breathe.  It  would  be  difficult  to  draw  to  the  small  pay 
and  secluded  life  at  Hampton  a  teacher  who  was  looking, 
first  of  all,  for  commercial  advantage  or  professional 
advancement ;  but  when  a  teacher  has  once  fairly  ad- 
justed himself  to  the  spirit  of  the  school,  it  is  much  more 
difficult  for  either  commercial  advantage  or  personal 
ambition  to  draw  him  away. 

The  same  tradition  of  disinterestedness  has  been  per- 
petuated among  the  students  of  Hampton,  through  the 
fresh  and  vivid  memory  of  Armstrong  and  his  teaching, 
and  the  constant  appeal  to  racial  obligation  and  self- 
respect.  The  Negro  character  is  keenly  susceptible  to 
these  appeals  of  sentiment.  It  has  its  own  tempera- 
mental limitations;  but  it  has  a  far  more  teachable  and 
grateful  disposition  than  sophisticated  youths  of  the 
white  race  as  a  rule  exhibit.  The  mind  of  the  Negro  is 
not  hampered  either  by  tradition  or  by  self-esteem; 
but  is  impressionable  and  imitative.  Here  is  a  racial 
weakness,  when  this  responsive  temperament  is  ap- 
proached by  a  strong  temptation;  but  here,  also,  is  the 
secret  of  extraordinary  progress  whenever  this  emotional 
susceptibility  is  touched  by  a  higher  appeal.  Even 
slaveholders  could  count  on  the  docility  and  loyalty  of 
the  Negroes  under  conditions  from  which  other  races 
274 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

would  have  rebelled.  The  same  traits,  steadied  by 
liberty  and  guided  by  affection,  make  of  Negro  students 
the  most  plastic  material  for  education.  Whatever  may 
be  taught  them  is  welcomed  at  its  best,  and  many  a 
teacher  of  conscious  insufficiency  has  been  educated  to 
effectiveness  by  the  eager  gratitude  of  expectant  pupils. 
The  same  susceptibility  has  its  moral  expression,  and  a 
race  with  tropical  emotions  may  be  brought  through 
daily  association  with  the  refinement  of  devoted  teachers 
to  a  habit  of  restraint  which  many  critics  would  regard 
as  quite  incredible. 

It  is  not  practicable  here  to  recount  in  detail  the  con- 
tributions to  this  expansion  of  Hampton  which  have  been 
made  by  devoted  Trustees  or  generous  friends;  or  to 
discriminate  between  the  conspicuous  givers  of  buildings, 
land,  money,  or  counsel,  and  the  less  recognized,  but 
often  not  less  self-denying,  generosity  of  benefactors 
who  have  merged  their  gifts  in  the  common  fund,  or 
have  invested  them  in  the  education  of  single  lives. 
This  lavish  benevolence  is  reported,  so  far  as  figures  can 
tell  the  story,  in  the  statistical  statements  included  in 
the  Appendices  to  this  volume,  and  the  names  of  the 
most  conspicuous  benefactors  are  there  associated  with 
their  gifts.  The  almost  unbroken  record  of  increase  in 
giving  from  year  to  year  testifies  to  an  unfailing  spring 
of  loyalty  which  supplies  the  not  less  steadily  increasing 
needs  of  the  school. 

Two  names,  however,  now  made  by  death  appro- 
priate subjects    for  recognition,  may  be   cited    to  indi- 

275 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

cate  the  spirit  which  has  made  the  school  what  it 
is,  and  which  must  be  perpetuated  if  its  expansion 
is  to  proceed.  The  first  name  is  that  of  Robert  Curtis 
Ogden,  who  became  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
in  1874,  and  was  its  President  from  1894,  the  first  year 
of  Frissell's  administration,  until  1913,  when,  after  a 
service  of  the  school  through  a  term  of  thirty-eight 
years,  he  died.  Mr.  Ogden  was  a  man  of  untiring  energy 
and  of  singular  wisdom  and  discretion.  He  had  risen 
by  his  fidelity  and  sagacity  to  a  position  of  great  re- 
sponsibility in  commercial  life  and  might  well  have 
regarded  his  administrative  gifts  as  pledged  to  an  exact- 
ing business.  From  the  beginning  of  his  career,  however, 
he  dedicated  much  of  his  time  and  money  to  causes  of 
philanthropy,  citizenship,  and  religion ;  and  when  in 
1 861  young  Armstrong  arrived  in  New  York  from  Hawaii, 
a  stranger,  and — as  he  regarded  himself — an  alien,  it  was 
to  Mr.  Ogden  that  he  first  presented  himself,  and  it  was 
Mr.  Ogden's  counsel  which  guided  and  restrained  the 
impetuous  youth  among  the  many  and  difficult  decisions 
of  his  later  career. 

The  financial  statesmanship  of  Mr.  Ogden  was  soon 
sought  by  many  important  enterprises  for  civic  and 
social  welfare;  and  he  became  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  Union  Theological  Seminary;  President 
of  the  Southern  Education  Board ;  Chairman  of  the 
General  Education  Board ;  a  member  of  the  Russell 
Sage  Foundation  and  of  the  Anna  T.  Jeanes  Founda- 
tion, and  a  Trustee  of  Tuskegee  Institute.  None  of  these 
276 


ROBERT  CURTIS  OGDEN 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

responsibilities,  however,  was  so  near  to  his  heart  as  the 
care  of  Hampton ;  and  no  day  of  his  busy  life  was  so  pre- 
occupied as  to  subordinate  its  interests  or  restrain  his 
generosity.  During  the  twenty  years  of  his  presidency 
the  invested  property  of  the  school  increased  from  ^379,000 
to  $2,642,000  and  his  persuasion  to  other  givers  was 
irresistible  because  he  habitually  gave  not  only  more 
than  his  own  share,  but  himself.  His  character  was  an 
extraordinary  blending  of  business  sagacity  and  spiritual 
simplicity.  He  was  as  modest  as  he  was  wise.  Writing 
once  to  Mr.  Ogden,  Armstrong  playfully  said  :  "Your 
life-work  will  not  be  complete  until  you  have  written  a 
book  on  theology."  It  would  have  been  a  short  book; 
and  its  teaching  would  have  been  summed  up  in  the 
Johannine  maxim:  "He  that  loveth  not  his  brother 
whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath 
not  seen  ?" 

The  World  War,  which  Mr.  Ogden  did  not  live  to  see, 
has  brought  to  light  not  only  unsuspected  depths  of 
depravity  in  human  nature,  but  not  less  impressively  the 
capacity  in  men  of  large  affairs  to  detach  themselves 
from  money-making  and  dedicate  themselves  to  public 
service.  Captains  of  industry  are  in  an  unprecedented 
manner  justifying  their  commercial  training  and  skill  by 
offering  both  to  the  making  of  a  world  safe  for  democracy. 
In  a  degree  which  few  men  of  the  last  generation  equalled 
and  which  many  could  not  appreciate,  Mr.  Ogden  an- 
ticipated, in  a  war  against  ignorance  and  racial  animosity 
at  the  South,  the  type  of  industrial  statesmanship  which 

277 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

the  War  of  Nations  has  now  produced.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  examples  of  commercial  energy 
and  success  converted  to  be  the  instruments  of  philan- 
thropic service  and  civic  leadership.  A  brilliant  writer, 
Lawrence  Oliphant,  once  said  that  the  chief  need  in  the 
England  of  his  day  was  that  of  "a  spiritually-minded 
man  of  the  world,"  a  man,  that  is  to  say,  who  could  live 
in  the  world  of  great  affairs,  fighting  its  battles  and 
accepting  its  conditions,  but  could  maintain  detachment 
from  its  control  and  survey  its  incidents  with  serenity 
and  hope.  Mr.  Ogden,  in  the  most  conspicuous  degree, 
was  a  spiritually-minded  man  of  the  world,  with  sagacious 
understanding  of  modern  industrialism  and  finance,  but 
free  from  their  entanglements  and  unperturbed  by  their 
vicissitudes.  His  discretion  steadied  Armstrong,  and 
his  hopefulness  reassured  Frissell.  Unassuming  and 
modest  as  he  remained  in  self-estimation,  he  came  to 
be — as  will  be  later  indicated — an  educational  states- 
man, recognized  as  the  sanest  interpreter  of  the  perplex- 
ing problems  which  distressed  the  Southern  States.  At 
the  centre  of  his  interest  was  the  love  of  Hampton, 
and  he  applied  to  many  larger  problems  its  spirit  of 
happy  service  with  the  conciliatory  wisdom  of  a  spiritual 
mind. 

Another  name  which  is  enshrined  among  the  sacred 
memories  of  Hampton  illustrates  that  law  of  spiritual 
attraction  which  has  drawn  so  many  rare  natures  to  the 
school.  Alexander  Purves  was  a  young  financier  of 
Philadelphia,  who  had  married  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Ogden, 
278 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

and  had  reached  a  point  in  his  business  career  where  the 
most  tempting  prizes  of  income  and  influence  were  within 
his  reach.  Neither  he  nor  his  young  wife,  however, 
found  themselves  contented  with  the  way  of  Hfe  which 
seemed  prescribed  by  a  business  career ;  and  an  incidental 
conversation  with  Dr.  Frissell  brought  them  to  a  quick 
and  grave  decision.  He  had  reported  to  them  the  press- 
ing need  of  a  more  systematic  organization  to  conduct  the 
growing  business  of  the  school ;  and  the  suggestion  that 
financial  experience  might  thus  find  its  place  in  Christian 
service  seemed  to  both  a  call  from  God.  Without  the 
knowledge  of  Mrs.  Purves's  father,  and  undeterred  either 
by  the  change  in  circumstances  or  the  problem  of  educa- 
tion for  their  children,  these  young  people  answered  the 
call  and  committed  themselves,  happily  and  unitedly, 
to  a  new  career.  This  was  in  1899,  and  for  six  years 
the  trained  mind  of  Mr.  Purves  was  applied  to  the 
efficient  administration  of  the  school's  finances  and  to 
every  form  of  personal  co-operation  with  its  life. 
An  opportunity  to  return  to  commercial  aff'airs,  with 
the  assurance  of  a  prospective  fortune,  did  not  tempt 
him  from  his  labor  of  love,  and  his  contentment  was 
written  on  his  kindly  and  smiling  face.  Early  in  1905 
he  was  stricken  by  sudden  disease  and  died,  but  not 
without  bequeathing  to  the  school  a  permanent  bless- 
ing, both  through  his  effective  service  and  through  his 
example  of  Christian  sacrifice. 

Hampton's    development    of    manual    and    industrial 
training  has  more  than  once  provoked  the  criticism  that 

279 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

it  involves  an  abandonment  of  the  original  ideals  of  the 
school,  and  directs  the  minds  of  students  to  material  and 
commercial  aims.  Earning  power,  it  has  been  suggested, 
has  been  substituted  for  character  building  as  the  test  of 
education.  This  reproach  of  materialism  testifies,  of 
course,  to  a  complete  ignorance  of  the  fundamental 
principle  which  the  school  represents — that  the  training 
of  the  hand  is  not  to  be  primarily  of  value  for  the  facility 
obtained  or  the  productiveness  assured,  but  for  the  in- 
tegrity and  efficiency  gained,  for  the  intelligent  use  of 
one's  best  powers  and  the  trained  capacity  to  serve -one's 
race.  The  mark  of  Hampton  is  not  made  on  a  student 
until  he  becomes,  not  a  materialist  in  his  view  of  life, 
but  an  idealist. 

No  incentive  to  this  view  of  practical  affairs  can, 
however,  be  so  compelling  as  the  contagion  of  other 
lives  which  have  gone  that  way,  and  the  companion- 
ship and  memory  of  spiritually-minded  men  of  the 
world.  To  see  a  man  of  great  business  responsibilities 
dedicate  his  busy  days  to  a  race  not  his  own,  in  a  region 
far  from  his  special  affairs,  and  to  observe  the  happiness 
he  found  in  such  dedication ;  to  see  a  young  man  turn 
away  from  the  solicitations  of  great  possessions,  not, 
like  the  youth  in  the  Gospel,  sorrowfully,  but  as  one 
who  had  found  the  way  of  satisfaction  and  peace;  — 
this  is  what  justifies  to  many  a  pupil,  tempted  by  sordid 
views  of  life,  the  Christian  teaching  which  he  hears, 
and  encourages  him  in  his  own  modest  place  to  sanctify 
himself  for  others'  sakes.  The  history  of  Hampton  be- 
280 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

comes,  through  such  companionship,  not  so  much  one 
of  an  expanding  institution  as  of  a  growing  organism,  or 
what  the  Christian  Apostle  called  a  "spiritual  house," 
built  of  "living  stones,"  offering  "spiritual  sacrifices 
acceptable  to  God." 


281 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN 

HAMPTON    AND    THE    SOUTH 

THE  picture  of  Hampton  Institute  has  been  thus  far 
roughly  sketched  on  the  small  scale  of  local  interest 
and  institutional  welfare.  It  must  be  now  set  in  the 
larger  frame  of  racial  progress  and  national  life.  The 
Southern  States  at  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  were  crushed 
under  many  grievous  burdens — the  sacrifice  of  their 
youths,  the  prostration  of  their  industries,  and  the  shock 
to  their  pride  and  hope.  Yet  of  all  these  disasters  that 
which  appeared  to  Southern  sentiment  most  threatening 
was  the  abrupt  emancipation  of  four  millions  of  slaves, 
and  its  possible  eflPect  both  upon  themselves  and  upon 
their  defeated  and  decimated  masters.  It  was  a  situa- 
tion which  not  unreasonably  caused  dismay.  These 
newly  created  citizens,  representing  forty  per  cent  of  the 
population  of  the  Southern  States,  and  in  many  regions 
far  outnumbering  the  whites,  had  been  given  the  polit- 
ical power  of  freemen,  though  ninety  per  cent  of  them 
were  illiterate,  and  all  were  without  experience  in  self- 
government  and  self-control. 

Nor  had  there  been  a  gradual  preparation  for  this 
grave  transition.  On  the  contrary,  as  friction  between 
282 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

the  North  and  South  before  the  War  had  increased, 
and  the  doctrines  of  abohtionists  seemed  to  incite 
Negro  insurrection,  stringent  laws  had  been  enacted 
in  many  Southern  States  prohibiting  the  teaching,  even 
of  the  rudiments  of  education,  to  Negroes  by  whites, 
or  even  by  other  Negroes,  as  a  menace  to  security. 
Thus  in  Georgia,  in  183 1,  a  Negro,  offending  by  instruct- 
ing another  Negro  to  read  or  write,  was  Hable  to  fine 
and  whipping,  while  a  white  person  committing  the  same 
offence  might  be  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  $500  and  imprison- 
ment in  the  common  jail  at  the  discretion  of  the  magis- 
trate; and  in  Alabama,  in  1832,  the  preaching  to  or 
exhorting  Negroes  was  prohibited  except  "in  the  pres- 
ence of  five  respectable  slaveholders."  Even  at  the 
North  the  same  dread  of  instruction,  as  likely  to  provoke 
revolt,  had  obstructed  the  education  of  Negroes,  and  in 
1832  a  young  Quaker  teacher.  Prudence  Crandall,  was 
threatened  with  violence  and  thrown  into  a  murderer's 
cell  for  maintaining  a  "nigger-school"  in  Canterbury, 
Connecticut.  The  Legislature  of  that  State  enacted 
a  law  that  no  person  should  estabHsh  a  school  for  the 
instruction  of  colored  people  who  were  not  inhabitants 
of  the  State,  nor  could  anyone  harbor  or  board  students 
brought  to  the  State  for  this  purpose,  without  first  ob- 
taining in  writing  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  civil 
authorities  and  the  selectmen  of  the  town.  On  the  con- 
stitutionality of  this  law  the  Court  of  Errors,  however, 
reserved  its  decision,  which  was  never  given,  though 
the  school  itself  was  abandoned. 

283 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

Reactionary  measures  like  these  had  their  inevitable 
effect  in  prolonging  the  period  of  Negro  illiteracy,  and 
in  spite  of  many  instances  of  self-help  among  Negroes, 
and  much  conscientious  effort  at  the  South  to  en- 
courage Christian  training  without  the  risk  of  intellec- 
tual advancement,  or,  as  was  said  by  a  devout  Bishop 
in  South  Carolina,  "to  impart  Christian  truth  by 
means  of  constant  and  patient  reiteration  to  persons 
of  humble  intellect  and  limited  range  of  knowledge," 
the  years  of  the  Civil  War  found  the  black  race  little 
more  prepared  for  citizenship  than  it  had  been  fifty 
years  before;  and  it  has  even  been  concluded  that  the 
proportion  of  Negroes  having  the  rudiments  of  education 
in  i860  was  "much  less  than  it  was  near  the  close  of  the 
era  of  better  beginnings,  about  1825."  * 

At  the  end  of  the  Civil  War  the  prevailing  sentiment 
of  the  impoverished  and  embittered  South  again,  and 
not  unnaturally,  turned  to  the  repression  of  the  Negroes 
rather  than  to  their  education,  as  the  way  of  social  secu- 
rity. A  public-school  system,  such  as  had  seemed  at 
the  North  the  foundation  of  a  stable  State,  had  never 
existed  at  the  South ;  and  even  among  the  whites,  while 
in  many  homes  an  education  of  peculiar  refinement  and 
charm  might  be  found,  the  proportion  of  illiteracy  was 
large.  Universal  education  would  not  only  involve  a 
new  and  enormous  tax  upon  the  slender  resources  of  the 
South,  but  might  encourage  the  blacks  in  their  already 

*  C.  G.  Woodson,  "The  Education  of  the  Negro  Prior  to  1861,"  1915.  PP. 
166,  174,  228. 

284 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

threatening  inclination  to  self-assertion  and  racial  hos- 
tility. It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  first  steps 
in  promoting  education  among  the  freedmen  were  taken 
by  Northern  philanthropy. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  American  Missionary 
Association  had  applied  itself  to  this  task,  and  in  1866 
was  employing  353  missionaries  and  teachers.  In  1862 
a  New  England  Freedmen's  Aid  Society  was  organized, 
and  sent  its  first  agent  to  the  Sea  Islands  of  South 
Carolina.  In  1862  also  a  National  Freedmen's  Relief 
Association  was  organized  in  New  York,  "for  the 
relief  and  improvement  of  the  freedmen — to  teach 
them  civilization  and  Christianity;  to  imbue  them 
with  notions  of  order,  industry,  economy,  and  self- 
realization,  and  to  elevate  them  in  the  scale  of  hu- 
manity by  inspiring  them  with  self-respect."  *  In 
1865  a  "Freedmen's  Aid  and  Union  Mission"  undertook 
"to  aid  and  co-operate  with  the  people  of  the  South, 
without  distinction  of  race  or  color,  in  the  improvement 
of  their  condition."  Many  Christian  denominations 
joined  in  this  new  crusade,  and  the  volume  of  giving, 
both  in  money  and  service,  though  it  could  make  but  a 
slight  impression  on  the  total  mass  of  black  illiteracy, 
testified  to  the  sense  of  obligation  felt  at  the  North  for 
the  race  which  had  been  so  abruptly  set  free.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  in  the  twelve  years  from  1862  these  various 
forms  of  voluntary  aid  expended  not  less  than  six  million 

*"  Negro  Education,"  Bulletin,  No.  38,  of  Bureau  of  Education,  1917,  I, 
p.  276. 

285 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

dollars,  and  that  several  thousand  persons  engaged  in 
the  work  of  instructing  a  million  pupils. 

It  soon  became  obvious,  however,  that  the  task  thus 
undertaken  by  the  North  far  exceeded  the  capabihties 
of  private  philanthropy;  and  in  1865  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau,  though  not  originally  designed  for  a  campaign 
of  education,  was  led  to  undertake  this  new  respon- 
sibility. During  its  six  years  of  active  operation  six 
million  dollars  were  appropriated  by  Congress,  and,  in 
connection  with  the  missionary  schools,  the  instruction 
reached  in  1870  a  total  of  2677  schools  with  3300 
teachers  and  149,581  scholars.  It  was  a  gallant  and  a 
costly  campaign,  penetrating  a  region  still  disinclined  to 
believe  that  an  educated  Negro  was  a  more  desirable 
neighbor  than  an  illiterate  one, —  a  crusade  inspired  by 
the  Northern  faith  in  common-school  training  as  the 
hope  of  citizenship. 

Yet,  devoted  as  was  this  army  of  school-teachers,  their 
efforts  were  met,  even  among  those  whom  they  were  able 
to  reach,  by  two  serious  obstacles.  In  the  first  place,  the 
movement  was  regarded,  not  so  much  an  alliance  with 
the  South  as  an  invasion.  Disinterested  and  self-sacri- 
ficing as  were  these  missionaries  from  the  North,  they 
were  as  a  rule  regarded  as  representatives  of  conquerors, 
who  might  be  compassionate  but  were  likely  to  be  con- 
descending. Not  until  the  South  itself  could  accept 
its  share  of  the  new  burden  and  co-operate  unhesitat- 
ingly in  this  campaign  of  education  as  in  a  new  war 
for  self-preservation,  could  the  black  race  as  a  whole 
286 


PRESENT  PRINCIPAL  OF  TUSKEGEE   INSTITUTE 
Robert  Russa  Moton 


THE  STORY  OF.  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

be  rescued  from  illiteracy  and  prepared  for  citizenship. 
The  education  of  the  Negro  could  not  be  thrust  upon 
the  South;    it  must  be  welcomed  and  promoted  there. 

This  obstacle  to  progress  was  soon  in  large  measure 
overcome  by  the  emergence,  from  the  mass  of  Southern 
indifference  or  apprehension,  of  a  group  of  leaders  whose 
motives  were  beyond  question,  and  whose  social  standing 
gave  them  authority.  They  recognized  that  if  the  Negro 
race  was  not  to  remain  a  permanent  menace  it  must 
be  elevated  by  education  into  self-respect.  In  1881,  Dr. 
Atticus  Haygood,  an  eminent  preacher  in  the  Southern 
Methodist  Church,  and  in  1890  chosen  a  bishop  of  that 
communion,  published  his  little  volume,  "Our  Brother 
in  Black,"  *  and  summoned  Christians  of  the  white  race 
to  fraternal  co-operation  with  their  backward  neighbors. 
"The  problem  before  us,"  he  wrote,  "the  Northern  and 
Southern  people  together,  and  the  Southern  people  m 
particular,  is  the  right  education  and  elevation  of  our 
black  brother,  the  free  Negro,  in  our  midst.  Do  not, 
beloved  white  brother,  scare  at  this  word  *  elevation.' 
Nothing  is  said  about  putting  the  Negro  above  the  white 
man.  Let  me  whisper  a  secret  in  your  ear — that  cannot 
be  done  unless  you  get  below  him.  Think  of  this,  and 
if  you  find  yourself  underneath,  blame  yourself.  The 
Negro  cannot  rise  simply  because  he  is  black;  and  the 
white  man  cannot  stay  up  simply  because  he  is  white.  A 
man  rises,  not  by  the  color  of  his  skin,  but  by  intelligence. 


*"Our  Brother  in  Black:    His  Freedom  and  His  Future,"  1881,  pp.   129, 
133.  134- 

287 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

industry,  and  integrity.  The  foremost  man  in  these 
excellences  and  virtues  must  in  the  long  run  be  also  the 
highest  man.  And  it  ought  to  be  so.  Ignorance,  in- 
dolence, immorality,  have  no  right  to  rise.  Let  the  white 
man  rise  as  high  as  he  can,  provided  always  that  he  does 
not  rise  by  wrongs  done  to  another.  In  such  rising  there 
is  no  real  elevation." 

These  brave  words,  unfamiliar  and  unwelcome  as 
they  were  to  many  Southern  whites,  found  acceptance 
among  far-sighted  and  forward-looking  men,  and  give 
to  Dr.  Haygood  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  of 
that  important  group  of  leaders  of  opinion,  whose  in- 
fluence has  by  degrees  disarmed  opposition,  promoted 
legislation,  and  accepted  the  problem  of  Negro  educa- 
tion as  a  problem  of  the  South.  Dr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry, 
for  example,  had  been  a  member  of  the  National 
Congress  from  Alabama  before  the  Civil  War,  and  of 
the  Confederate  Congress  during  that  struggle.  He  had 
fought  for  the  South,  taught  and  preached  in  the  South, 
and  was  recognized  as  an  eloquent  representative  of  the 
South.  When,  therefore.  Dr.  Curry,  immediately  after 
the  Civil  War,  advocated  the  education  of  the  Negro, 
or  when,  twenty-five  years  later,  he  said:  "Education, 
moral,  intellectual,  industrial,  civic,  should  be  persist- 
ently and  generously  furnished,"  *  Southern  legislators 
could  but  listen,  and  out  of  the  meagre  resources  in  their 
hands  increase  the  appropriations  for  the  education  -of 
their  Brother  in  Black. 

*"  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  a  Biography,"  191 1,  p.  427. 
288 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

The  force  of  Southern  opinion  directed  to  this  end 
has  steadily  increased,  until  it  may  now  be  said  that  it 
is  the  North  which  co-operates  and  the  South  which 
leads.  Nearly  six  million  dollars  were  spent  by  the 
Southern  States  in  1916  for  the  salaries  of  teachers  in 
public  schools  for  Negroes,  and  the  valuation  of  Fed- 
eral, State,  and  private  schools  reached  a  total  of 
thirty-four  million  dollars.  Inadequate  as  these  sums 
remain  while  the  Negroes  who  form  30  per  cent  of  the 
population  receive  but  18  per  cent  of  the  appropriations, 
the  encouraging  result  has  been  reached  that  Negro 
illiteracy,  which  in  i860  was  at  least  90  per  cent,  has  been 
reduced  to  30  per  cent,  while  in  Negroes  between  ten  and 
twenty  years  of  age  the  illiteracy  is  "much  less  than 
this."  The  situation,  as  it  is  now  regarded  by  the  "New 
South,"  is  sufficiently  described  by  the  Southern  Uni- 
versity Race  Commission  in  an  Open  Letter:  "The 
inadequate  provision  for  the  education  of  the  Negro  is 
more  than  an  injustice  to  him ;  it  is  an  injury  to  the 
white  man.  The  South  cannot  realize  its  destiny  if 
one-third  of  its  population  is  undeveloped  and  inefficient. 
.  .  .  Our  appeal  is  for  a  larger  share  for  the  Negro  on  the 
ground  of  common  welfare  and  common  justice.  He  is 
the  weakest  link  in  our  civilization,  and  our  welfare  is 
indissolubly  bound  up  with  his."  * 

The  same  conviction  has  been  candidly  expressed 
by  one  of  the  most  sagacious  and  disinterested  among 
the  educational  statesmen  of  the  South,  a  Hneal  spirit- 

*  Bureau  of  Education,  op.  cit.,  I,  p.  5. 

289 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

ual  descendant  of  Haygood  and  Curry.  "Educators 
and  statesmen  see  that  we  cannot  have  health  our- 
selves, that  we  cannot  enjoy  prosperity  and  develop 
our  resources,  and  more,  that  we  cannot  have  easy  con- 
sciences, unless  we  do  our  part  in  educating  the  great 
masses  of  the  colored  people  of  the  South.  The  school 
officials,  State  and  county,  are  constantly  showing  a 
more  intelligent  interest.  Unfortunately  a  low  grade 
of  politics  in  many  places  still  stands  in  the  way. 
The  need  in  the  South  is  still  great  for  bringing  more 
and  more  to  the  front  the  better  thought  of  our  most 
intelligent  and  progressive  people.  This  seems  to  me 
our  chief  Southern  problem  of  today."  * 

A  second  obstacle  to  efficiency  in  the  missionary  in- 
vasion as  first  organized  was  the  nature  of  the  instruc- 
tion so  generously  offered  to  the  blacks.  With  few 
exceptions  the  teachers  sent  from  the  North,  though 
inspired  by  the  most  generous  motives  and  well  trained 
for  service  in  New  England,  were  unfamiliar  with 
the  traditions  and  conditions  of  the  South  and  the 
nature  and  needs  of  the  Negroes.  They  hoped  to  trans- 
plant the  common-school  system  of  the  North  and  make 
it  thrive  among  the  blacks  of  the  Southern  States.  It 
was  as  if  they  had  persisted  in  planting  winter-wheat 
in  the  cotton  belt,  or  apple-trees  in  a  land  of  palms.  It 
was  a  forcing  of  the  fruits  of  learning  before  strengthening 
the  roots*  of  learning.  What  the  Negro  race  needed,  first 
of  all,  in  its  emergence  from  slavery,  was  to  be  adjusted 

*  J.  H.  Dillard,  "  Report  as  President  of  the  Jeanes  Fund,  1914,"  p.  6. 
290 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

to  the  environment  of  the  Southern  States  where  its 
destiny  with  few  exceptions  must  be  worked  out.  Edu- 
cation must  begin  where  the  Negro  happened  to  be,  in 
a  region  whose  immediate  need  was  not  Hterary  culture, 
but  trained  hands  and  intelhgent  workmanship.  A 
Northern  school-teacher  might  impart  refinement  and 
consecration,  but  she  might  also  encourage  the  delusion 
that  book-learning  was  better  than  manual  industry, 
and  that  freedom  from  slavery  meant  freedom  from  work. 
It  was  not  surprising  that  this  gallant  crusade  was  greeted 
by  many  Southerners,  famiUar  with  the  Negro  character, 
with  suspicion  or  hostility,  as  though  the  problem  of 
education  were  being  turned  upside  down,  and  the  Negro 
prepared  for  poHtics  or  professorships  instead  of  for 
bread-winning  and  home-making.  "The  average  New 
England  teacher,"  a  Southern  leader  has  said,  "ap- 
proached the  task,  however  sincerely,  as  if  the  Negro  were 
simply  a  backward  white  man,  an  untaught  Mayflower 
descendant.  .  .  .  The  Southern  white  teacher  quickly  came 
to  avoid  the  work  as  a  form  of  treason,  because  he  thought 
the  prime  purpose  of  the  whole  scheme  was  to  reverse 
all  social  and  political  conditions."  * 

Here,  then,  in  the  need  of  a  training  appropriate  to 
the  conditions  of  the  South,  the  convictions  and  antici- 
pations of  trustworthy  Southern  leaders  found  themselves 
met  by  the  Hampton  scheme  of  "Education  for  Life." 
Applied  though  it  had  been  as  a  working  programme  by 
Armstrong  immediately  after  the  Civil  War,  it  was  not 

•"J.  L.  M.  Curry,  a  Biography,"  p.  424. 

291 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

until  twenty  years  later  that  the  attention  of  the  South 
was  definitely  drawn  to  its  sanity  and  success.  In  1881 
the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  in  Vir- 
ginia alluded  to  Hampton  Institute  "as  the  most  valu- 
able of  all  the  schools  opened  on  this  continent  for 
colored  people."  In  1883  Dr.  Haygood  reported  to 
the  Peabody  Board:  "Some  of  the  most^  experienced 
workers  in  this  field  are  not  convinced  of  the  wisdom 
of  making  industrial  training  an  important  feature  in 
their  plans  and  efforts.  Many  equally  experienced 
entertain  no  doubt  on  this  subject.  ...  In  this  opin- 
ion your  agent  entirely  concurs."  In  1893  Dr.  Curry 
wrote  that  Hampton  Institute  was  "almost  an  anomaly 
in  educational  work.  Its  success  has  been  extraordi- 
nary." Thus  a  way  opened  where  Southern  sentiment 
and  Northern  philanthropy  could  walk  together.  An 
answer  had  been  found,  not  to  all  the  problems  which 
confronted  the  Negro  race,  or  to  the  ambitions  which 
stirred  the  minds  of  exceptional  Negroes,  but  to  the  cry 
of  the  vast  majority  of  a  backward  race,  asking  for 
practical  direction  in  the  elementary  task  of  self-support 
and  the  elementary  virtue  of  self-respect. 

This  alliance  of  Northern  and  Southern  forces  of  en- 
lightenment was  soon  fortified  by  the  establishment  of 
special  funds,  bequeathed  for  education  at  the  South 
and  administered  with  sympathetic  wisdom.  The  Pea- 
body  Fund,  estabHshed  in  1867  by  an  original  gift  of  two 
million  dollars,  and  increased  in  1869  to  $3,500,000,  was 
not  specifically  designed  for  Negroes,  but  for  the  "edu- 
292 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

catlonal  needs  of  those  portions  of  our  beloved  and 
common  country  which  have  suffered  from  the  destruc- 
tive ravages,  and  the  not  less  destructive  consequences, 
of  the  Civil  War."  When,  however.  Dr.  Curry  in  1880 
became  its  General  Agent,  he  reported  that,  "by  care- 
fully chosen  language  both  races  were  included  in  the 
benefaction  .  .  .  and  no  discrimination  betwixt  races 
should  be  made  beyond  what  a  wise  administration  re- 
quired." The  John  F.  Slater  Fund,  estabhshed  in  1882 
with  an  endowment  of  one  million  dollars,  was  definitely 
given  for  the  purpose  of  "uplifting  the  lately  emanci- 
pated population  of  the  Southern  States  and  their  pos- 
terity" ;  *  and  in  1915-1916  appropriated  for  Negro  schools 
in  thirteen  States  a  total  of  ^67,250.  The  Phelps-Stokes 
Fund  of  $900,000,  created  by  the  will  of  Miss  Caroline 
Phelps  Stokes  in  1909,  was  bequeathed,  among  other 
purposes,  "for  the  education  of  Negroes,  both  in  Africa 
and  the  United  States,"  and  its  resources  have  been 
generously  applied  to  maintain  Research  Fellowships  "  for 
the  study  of  the  Negro";  to  supply  means  "to  enable 
teachers,  administrative  officers,  and  students  to  come 
into  direct  and  helpful  contact  with  the  actual  work  of 
representative  institutions  of  Negro  education";  and, 
among  other  expenditures,  to  promote  the  publication 
of  the  invaluable  volumes  on  Negro  education,  which 
bear  the  imprint  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Edu- 
cation and  which  have  been  freely  cited  in  this  chapter. 
From  these  and  other  permanent  funds  a  continuous 

*  Bureau  of  Education,  op.  cit.,  I,  p.  164. 

293 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

stream  of  benefactions  has  flowed  from  the  North  to 
supplement  the  resources  of  the  South,  and  to  confirm 
the  faith  of  Southern  advocates  of  Negro  education  in 
their  own  pubHc-spirited  endeavors. 

In  the  case  of  one  such  endowment  the  circumstances 
of  origin  were  so  touching  in  themselves,  and  so  imme- 
diately associated  with  Hampton  Institute,  that  they 
must  be  briefly  recalled.  Miss  Anna  T.  Jeanes  was  a 
venerable  Quaker  of  Philadelphia ;  before  whom,  in  the 
course  of  his  visitations  to  the  homes  of  the  prosperous. 
Dr.  Frissell  laid  the  needs  of  Hampton  Institute.  She 
replied  that  her  sympathies  turned  more  instinctively, 
not  to  the  selected  and  mature  students  of  Hampton, 
but  to  the  meagre  provision  for  elementary  and  rural 
schools.  Dr.  Frissell  promptly  encouraged  this  direction 
of  her  benevolence,  and  Miss  Jeanes,  saying,  "Thee  in- 
terests me,"  handed  him  a  check,  which  he  was  aston- 
ished to  find  was  for  the  large  sum  of  $10,000.  Miss 
Jeanes  soon  supplemented  this  with  another  gift  of  the 
same  amount  and  for  the  same  purpose  to  Booker  Wash- 
ington. These  benefactions  being  committed  to  the 
care  of  Mr.  George  Foster  Peabody,  then  Treasurer, 
not  only  of  the  Hampton  Investment  Committee  but  of 
the  Tuskegee  Investment  Committee  and  of  the  General 
Education  Board,  a  letter  of  thanks  from  this  untiring 
and  generous  friend  of  Negro  education  brought  from 
Miss  Jeanes  an  added  gift  of  $200,000  to  the  General 
Education  Board,  the  income  to  be  used  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Dr.  Frissell  and  Dr.  Washington  for  the  same 
294 


JAMES   HALL,   A   BOYS'   DORMITORY 

Built   entirely   by  student   bricklayers,   plasterers,   carpenters,   steamfitters, 
plumbers,  electricians,  sheetmetal  workers,  blacksmiths,  painters,  and  glaziers 


ROBKRT  C.  OCJDKN   AUDITORIUM 

In  process  of  construction  (1918) 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

purpose.  Finally  she  proceeded  to  transfer  to  these 
advisers,  with  the  addition  of  Mr.  Taft  and  Mr.  Carnegie, 
and  such  friends  as  Dr.  Frissell  and  Dr.  Washington 
might  select,  the  sum  of  one  million  dollars,  for  the  "sup- 
port of  village  and  rural  schools  for  colored  people  in  the 
Southern  United  States,'*  saying:  "Now  I  am  giving 
all  for  these  little  schools.     It  is  a  great  privilege." 

The  "Jeanes  Board"  was  thereupon  organized  with 
a  membership  of  five  Southern  white  men,  five  Northern 
men,  and  five  Negroes  ;  and,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  George 
Foster  Peabody,  "has  perhaps  produced  greater  propor- 
tionate results  from  its  income  than  any  other  similar 
benefaction."  Over  two  hundred  "Jeanes  Teachers" 
travel  among  the  schools,  assisting  the  regular  teachers 
and  initiating  the  children  into  the  simpler  forms  of 
industrial  work;  and  the  Jeanes  Fund  in  1917-1918  ex- 
pended $42,443.50  in  214  counties  of  fourteen  Southern 
States  for  its  sorely  needed  ministrations.  It  is  a  story 
of  almost  equal  generosity  in  the  giver  and  in  the  re- 
ceivers of  the  benefaction ;  for  while  both  Hampton  and 
Tuskegee  get  indirect  returns  through  the  better  condi- 
tion of  their  teacher-graduates,  neither  institution  pressed 
upon  this  tender-hearted  friend  its  own  claims,  and  both 
Frissell  and  Washington  undertook  with  loyal  devotion 
the  added  task  of  re-enforcing  schools  less  favored  than 
their  own. 

Finally  there  has  issued  from  this  better  understanding 
and  co-operative  service  a  series  of  enterprises  whose 
vast   expansion   and   usefulness,   though   involving  other 

29s 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

causes,  may  be  traced,  at  least  in  their  beginnings, 
directly  to  the  influence  of  Hampton  Institute.  In  1898 
an  informal  gathering,  suggested  by  the  Conferences 
on  Peace  and  Indian  Afi^airs  held  at  Lake  Mohonk,  N.Y., 
assembled  at  Capon  Springs,  West  Virginia,  and  a  group 
of  guests  both  from  the  North  and  the  South  were  in- 
vited to  consider  the  problem  of  education  in  the  South- 
ern States.  Two  similar  meetings  in  1899  and  1900 
proved  so  instructive  that  in  1901  a  conference  at  Win- 
ston-Salem, North  Carolina,  was  planned  on  a  larger 
scale.  To  this  gathering  Mr.  Ogden  invited  a  large 
company  of  Northern  friends  as  his  guests,  and  they 
were  lodged  in  the  hospitable  homes  of  residents,  where 
strangers  soon  became  in  many  instances  intimate  and 
cordial  friends.  It  was  an  extraordinary  occasion,  both 
in  its  earnest  deliberations  and  in  its  fraternal  fellowship, 
and  at  its  close  a  "Southern  Education  Board"  was 
organized,  to  conduct  **a  campaign  of  education  for 
free  schools  for  all  the  people."  Neither  here,  nor  at 
later  meetings  in  Athens,  Ga.,  Richmond,  Va.,  and  many 
other  centres  of  influence,  was  the  education  of  Negroes 
the  sole  subject  for  consideration,  nor  was  it,  on  the  other 
hand,  eliminated  from  discussion.  "Free  schools  for  all 
the  people  "  was  a  platform  so  large  that  all  loyal  citizens 
could  stand  together  on  it.  Yet  Mr.  Ogden,  the  patron 
saint  of  these  conferences,  did  not  forget  the  school  of 
whose  Trustees  he  was  President,  and  his  invited  guests 
on  each  occasion  were  finally  brought  to  Hampton  as  to 
the  climax  of  their  excursion. 
296 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

The  events  which  followed  the  conference  at  Winston- 
Salem  make  a  dramatic  sequence,  whose  consequences 
have  far  outrun  the  expectations  of  its  promoters.  It 
was  there  voted  that  an  executive  Board  of  seven  should 
be  selected  by  Mr.  Ogden,  and  that  this  Board,  under 
his  chairmanship,  should  conduct  a  campaign  of  education 
and  information.  The  Southern  Education  Board,  thus 
constituted,  numbered  in  its  membership  leading  edu- 
cators both  of  the  South  and  the  North,  among  whom 
were  the  Principal  of  Hampton  Institute  and  two  other 
Trustees ;  but  its  central  figure  was  Mr.  Ogden  himself. 
"By  the  power  of  his  personal  influence,"  his  colleagues 
put  on  record  after  his  death,  "he  held  the  Southern 
Board  together  and  directed  the  energies  of  busy  men  to 
the  unselfish  duties  which  he  assumed.  Through  the 
Conference  for  Education  in  the  South  he  touched  the 
great  hearts  of  the  North  and  the  South,  and  put  upon 
the  nation's  conscience  a  universal  need.  All  this  was 
done  so  quietly,  so  simply,  that  we  wonder  still  at  the 
results.  Not  by  persuasion,  not  by  fanatical  insistence, 
but  by  the  contagion  of  his  own  personal  devotion  he 
rallied  men  from  every  section,  from  every  walk  or  station 
in  life,  rich  and  poor,  high  and  lowly,  white  and  black, 
to  the  cause  which  he  advocated." 

As  this  campaign  proceeded  and  a  large  amount  of 
money  became  necessary  for  its  expansion,  Mr.  John  D. 
Rockefeller,  whose  only  son  had  been  among  Mr.  Ogden's 
guests  at  Winston-Salem,  was  moved  to  re-enforce  this 
work  at  the  South  by  a  gift  of  one  million  dollars,  to  be 

297 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

expended  during  a  period  of  eight  or  ten  years.  Three 
years  later  he  supplemented  this  gift  by  an  endowment  of 
ten  million  dollars,  "to  promote  a  comprehensive  system  of 
higher  education  in  the  United  States."  For  this  purpose 
a  new  organization,  the  General  Education  Board,  was 
formed.  Mr.  Ogden  became  its  Chairman  in  1905,  with 
another  Hampton  Trustee,  Mr.  George  Foster  Peabody,  as 
Treasurer.  Later  the  Principal  of  Hampton  became  a 
member.  Finally  this  investment  by  Mr.  Rockefeller  in 
National  service  was  increased  by  further  gifts,  in  1907 
of  thirty-two  million  dollars,  and  in  1909  of  ten  million 
dollars ;  and  the  vast  and  varied  usefulness  of  this  Board 
was  applied  on  the  most  generous  scale  to  many  pressing 
needs  of  agriculture,  public  health,  and  education  through- 
out the  country,  and  especially  in  the  less  prosperous 
regions  of  the  Southern  States.  Up  to  January  191 5 
this  Board  had  contributed  more  than  sixteen  million 
dollars  to  education,  and  of  this  sum  more  than  nine 
hundred  thousand  dollars  had  been  appropriated  for 
schools  and  supervisors  of  schools  for  the  Negro  race.* 
The  present  annual  contribution  of  the  Board  for  the 
education  of  Negroes  exceeds  $350,000. 

It  would  be  a  most  exaggerated  claim  to  suggest  that 
this  unparalleled  munificence  should  be  completely 
referred  to  the  influence  of  Hampton  Institute.  Needs 
much  larger  than  those  of  any  single  school  prompted 
the  giver,  and  aims  much  larger  than  any  single  type  of 
education  have  guided  the  distribution  of  this  endow- 

'"  Bureau  of  Education,  op.  cit.,  I,  p.  162. 
298 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

ment.  Yet  it  remains  a  legitimate  satisfaction  to  the 
friends  of  Hampton  to  trace  the  sequence  of  events, 
which  began  in  the  Hmited  circle  of  the  Southern  Con- 
ference and  ended  in  a  permanent  and  splendid  work  of 
national  beneficence;  and  to  recall  that,  at  each  step, 
the  spirit  which  had  controlled  the  history  of  Hampton 
Institute  was  accepted  as  a  guide,  and  that  the  admin- 
istrators of  that  school,  who  had  dedicated  themselves 
to  the  welfare  of  the  colored  race,  were  called  to  apply 
the  same  principles  to  the  larger  needs  of  an  entire  nation. 
What,  then,  may  be  said  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  in 
the  history  of  Hampton  Institute  concerning  the  con- 
dition of  Negro  education  at  the  South  ?  It  must  be 
admitted,  on  the  one  hand,  that  even  with  the  growth 
of  favoring  sentiment  at  the  South,  and  the  re-enforce- 
ment contributed  by  Northern  philanthropy,  the  results 
are  as  yet  sadly  inadequate.  Taking  into  consideration 
sixteen  Southern  States,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
Missouri,  with  a  population  in  1916  of  23,682,352  whites 
and  8,906,879  Negroes,  and  of  children  between  six  and 
fourteen  years  of  age  numbering  4,889,762  whites  and 
2,023,108  Negroes,  it  appears  that  the  average  salary 
of  a  teacher  in  white  schools  was  $10.32  per  pupil  and 
in  black  schools  $2.89,  and  that  the  percentage  of  illiter- 
acy in  whites  was  7.7  per  cent  and  among  colored  33.3  per 
cent.  In  States  with  a  dense  Negro  population  the  ratio 
is  still  more  disproportionate.  Thus  in  Alabama  the 
appropriation  for  teachers'  salaries  was  $9.41  per  white 
child,  and  $1.78  per  black  child;   in  South  CaroHna  $10 

299 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

and  ^1.44;  in  Louisiana  $13.73  ^^^  $i-3i-  In  other 
words,  though  the  decrease  of  Negro  illiteracy  in  fifty 
years  from  90  to  30  per  cent  is  a  demonstration  of  capacity 
in  the  Negro  race  for  instruction,  it  is  evident  that  the 
race  as  a  whole  has  not  as  yet  had  a  fair  chance  to  show 
what  pace  of  progress  might  under  favoring  circum- 
stances be  attained. 

It  must  further  be  admitted  that,  at  the  upper  end  of 
the  educational  system,  extremely  slender  provision  has 
been  made  for  Negroes  of  rare  intellectual  gifts.  If  the 
Negro  race  is  to  maintain  its  pace  of  progress,  the  whole 
range  of  professional  callings  must  be  open  and  provision 
made  for  substantial  training.  Here  still  remains  a  grave 
lack  of  opportunity.  The  supply  of  colleges  and  universi- 
ties designed  for  the  higher  education  of  Negroes  and  offer- 
ing adequate  instruction,  is  pitifully  insufficient,  and  their 
output  of  competent  graduates  wholly  inadequate  for  the 
needs  of  the  race.  Of  the  12,726  students  attending  insti- 
tutions for  Negroes  described  as  colleges,  only  1643  were 
in  1916  studying  college  subjects,  and  but  994  were  en- 
rolled in  professional  courses.  Colored  physicians  are 
needed  throughout  the  South,  but  Howard  University  in 
Washington  and  the  Meharry  Medical  College  in  Nashville 
appear  to  be  the  only  institutions  which  give  complete 
courses  in  medicine,  dentistry,  and  pharmacy,  and  their 
aggregate  attendance  is  but  792.*      Howard  University 

*  The  modest  claim  has  been  lately  made,  in  behalf  of  Leonard  Medical 
School  in  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  that  "  we  now  have  just  two-and-a-half 
Medical  Schools  for  Negroes  in  America."    Cf, :  "  The  Crisis  of  Negro  Medical 
Schools,"  1917. 
300 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

alone  gives  a  full  law-course,  with  an  enrolment  of  io6  stu- 
dents. Fourteen  institutions  offer  special  courses  for  the 
training  of  ministers,  but  count  a  total  of  only  441  students, 
for  this  profession,  "few  of  whom  have  completed  even  a 
high-school  course."  The  number  of  institutions  is  ex- 
tremely limited  which  can  be  properly  described  as 
having  a  "student  body,  teaching  force  and  equipment, 
and  income  sufficient  to  warrant  the  characterization  of 
'college'."  *  Three  hundred  and  ninety-one  Negro  stu- 
dents were,  in  191 6,  in  attendance  at  Northern  colleges  and 
universities  :  287  being  students  in  arts ;  70  in  medicine ; 
10  in  theology;  17  in  law;  and  7  in  veterinary  medicine. 
In  the  presence  of  these  facts  all  discussion  of  the  rela- 
tive value  of  academic  and  industrial  education  becomes 
of  secondary  importance.  The  one  is  needed  for  the  few ; 
the  other  for  the  many;  but  both  are  essential  for  an 
integral  and  intelHgent  racial  life.  "Whatever  be  the 
degree  of  their  talents,"  wrote  Thomas  Jefferson  of  the 
Negro  race,  "it  is  no  measure  of  their  rights.  Because 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  was  superior  to  others  in  understanding, 
he  was  not  therefore  lord  of  the  person  or  property  of 
others."  Jefferson  had  observed  of  the  Negroes  in  his 
own  State  of  Virginia  "that  the  opportunities  for  the 
development  of  their  genius  were  not  favorable,  and 
those  for  exercising  it  still  less  so."  He  might  have  used 
the  same  words  today ;  and  those  who  care  for  Hampton 
Institute  must  contemplate  with  apprehension  the  risks 
of  submitting  the  care  of  the  health,  or  legal  rights,  or 

*  Bureau  of  Education,  op.  cit.,  I,  p.  60. 

301 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

religious  training,  of  Negroes  to  half-educated  or  com- 
pletely ignorant  leaders;  and  must  view,  not  with  jeal- 
ousy, but  with  sympathy,  every  effort  to  strengthen  those 
institutions  which  are  accomplishing  what  Hampton  can- 
not with  its  present  resources  undertake. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  survey  of  social  history  exhibits 
an  extraordinary  growth  of  confidence  in  the  Hampton 
plan.  Thirteen  State-schools,  and  more  than  two  hundred 
private  schools  for  Negroes,  purported  in  1916  to  offer 
courses  in  industrial  education.  Much  of  this  training 
was,  no  doubt,  superficial,  and  some  of  it  little  more  than 
a  fictitious  attempt  to  meet  a  popular  demand ;  but  the 
spread  of  the  Hampton  faith,  even  in  imperfect  or  per- 
verted forms,  indicates  its  place  in  the  future  of  Negro 
education.  Seventy-three  per  cent  of  the  population 
of  the  South  are  still  rural  dwellers,  and  forty  per  cent 
of  these  are  Negroes.  Negroes  own  nearly  two  million 
acres  of  land  in  Virginia,  valued  at  fourteen  million  dollars ; 
and  according  to  the  Census  of  1910  they  owned  land  in 
the  South  valued  at  272  million  dollars.  Negroes  culti- 
vate "either  as  owners,  tenants,  or  laborers  approxi- 
mately one  hundred  million  acres  of  the  Southern  States, 
or  an  area  four  times  that  of  Virginia."  The  call  to  the 
land,  and  to  the  mechanic  arts  on  which  rural  living 
depends,  is  still — fortunately  for  the  colored  race — the 
summons  which  is  most  persuasive  to  its  temperament  and 
traditions,  and  in  answering  which  the  great  majority  of 
the  race  will  find  prosperity  and  content. 

Here,  then,  is  the  immediate  opportunity  for  Hampton 
302 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

to  contribute  to  the  life  of  the  South.  To  have  overcome 
in  fifty  years  the  indifference,  and  to  have  won  the  appre- 
ciation, of  the  best  Southern  sentiment  is  in  itself  much ; 
to  have  communicated  to  the  Negro  race,  after  its  first  re- 
action from  slave-labor,  the  conviction  that  manual  indus- 
try is  honorable,  and  skilled  labor  the  way  to  self-respect, 
is  still  more ;  to  have  established  the  moral  unity  of  bread- 
winning  with  character-building,  and  to  send  out  mission- 
aries preaching  the  gospel  of  an  Education  for  Life, — all 
this  may  not  unreasonably  reassure  the  faith  which  is 
cherished  at  Hampton  Institute  in  the  capacity  of  the 
Negro  race  and  in  its  mission  for  the  South. 


303 


CHAPTER  TWELVE 

HAMPTON    AND    THE    FUTURE 

WHAT,  then,  shall  be  concluded,  in  the  light  of  this 
story  of  fifty  years  at  Hampton,  concerning  the  future 
problems  of  the  school  itself,  and  the  place  of  the  school 
among  the  greater  problems  which  confront  the  future 
of  the  world  ?  If  one  turn,  first,  to  the  interior  welfare 
and  progress  of  the  institution,  it  becomes  evident  that 
the  fundamental  question  with  which  the  second  half- 
century  begins  is  the  same  which  in  the  first  half-century 
has  been  so  happily  answered — the  question  of  leadership. 
Devoted  and  untiring  as  have  been  the  staff  of  teachers 
and  workers,  the  controlling  force,  which,  like  the  engine 
of  a  steadily  moving  ship,  has  maintained  the  momentum 
of  the  school,  has  been  the  dynamic  character  of  its  two 
Principals.  Armstrong  was  a  missionary  soldier ;  Frissell 
was  a  missionary  statesman ;  and  while  the  first  fought 
the  early  battles  of  Hampton  against  prejudice  and 
poverty,  the  second  directed  its  later  and  more  complex 
problems  with  the  serene  diplomacy  of  the  open  mind. 
It  is  a  happy  coincidence  that,  as  these  words  are  written, 
the  immediate  future  of  Hampton  has  been  committed 
to  a  leader  who  gives  every  promise  of  perpetuating  both 
of  these  precious  inheritances — the  moral  courage  which 
304 


HAMPTON'S  THIRD   PRINCIPAL 
James  Edgar  Gregg 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

made  Armstrong  daring,  and  the  spiritual  serenity  which 
made  Frissell  wise.  No  leader  could  bring  to  his  task  a 
better  training  in  responsibility,  or  a  warmer  affection 
from  those  among  whom  he  has  served ;  and  none  could 
be  greeted  by  his  new  colleagues  and  pupils  with  a  more 
eager  expectation  or  a  more  confident  hope. 

Many  interior  problems  of  administration  and  dis- 
cipline will  meet  the  school  in  this  new  era — ^the  raising 
and  spending  of  large  sums  of  money;  the  maintaining 
of  Northern  aid  without  sacrificing  the  Principal's  life ; 
the  adjustment  of  expenditure  to  the  changing  standards 
of  the  time ;  the  procuring  of  the  maximum  of  production 
from  all  the  varied  interests  of  teachers  and  pupils — 
farms,  shops,  classes,  trades,  library,  athletics,  and 
worship.  All  these,  and  many  other  details  of  internal 
life,  must  be  left  to  the  wisdom  and  patience  of  the 
Principal  and  the  generous  co-operation  of  his  staff. 
The  spiritual  momentum  which  has  already  been  reached 
will  encourage  each  new  undertaking.  It  is  easier  to 
keep  a  mass  moving,  or  even  to  accelerate  its  movement, 
than  it  is  to  start  it  from  a  standstill,  or  to  check  it  from 
a  reverse. 

Fortunately,  also,  for  these  problems  of  internal  life, 
a  contribution  of  counsel  and  criticism  of  unprecedented 
thoroughness  and  candor  will  soon  be  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Principal  and  his  colleagues.  The  attention  of 
the  General  Education  Board  was  directed  in  1916  to 
the  improvement  of  secondary  education ;  and  in  the 
course  of  their  preliminary  studies  it  was  determined  to 

30s 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

promote  a  survey  of  the  most  approved  type  of  vocational 
training,  as  a  subject  of  increasing  importance  for  the 
future  of  American  education.  To  the  great  satisfaction 
of  Hampton  Institute,  that  institution  was  selected  for 
examination  and  criticism.  To  be  thus  chosen,  not  as  a 
school  for  Negroes  and  Indians,  but  as  a  school  most 
likely  to  teach  valuable  lessons  to  the  nation,  was  a  most 
reassuring  and  convincing  form  of  appreciation.  Pro- 
fessor Hanus  of  Harvard  University,  with  a  staff  of 
assistants,  has  been  engaged  for  a  year  on  this  critical 
study ;  and  his  report  should  expose  the  mistakes  which 
appear  to  him  to  have  been  made,  and  will  suggest  what 
appear  to  him  to  be  improvements  in  organization  or 
standards.  No  similar  institution  has  ever  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  so  thorough  and  candid  a  study  by  a  neutral 
and  competent  authority ;  and  while  the  counsel  it  may 
give  is  likely  to  be  at  some  points  chastening,  it  is  certain 
to  be  sympathetic,  invigorating,  and  wise. 

Behind  all  these  questions  of  detail,  however,  which  it 
is  not  within  the  province  of  this  volume  to  consider,  there 
remains  one  general  problem  which  issues  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  school,  and  which,  with  each  step  in  expan- 
sion either  of  plant  or  purpose,  becomes  more  complex 
and  fundamental.  It  is  the  problem  of  adjustment  be- 
tween the  different  elements  in  the  total  movement  of 
the  work,  so  that  they  shall  proceed  at  even  pace,  not 
detached  from  each  other,  or  lagging  behind,  or  pushed 
ahead  of  the  general  scheme;  but  held  together,  like  a 
moving  army  which  must  have  at  command  all  its  re- 
306 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

sources  and  may  be  defeated  if  it  outmarch  its  supplies. 
The  rapid  growth  of  the  school,  from  a  family-circle  of 
intimate  affection  to  a  great  institution  with  departments 
which  hardly  touch  each  other  either  in  space  or  in 
method ;  the  increasing  diversity  among  students — some 
still  struggling  with  the  rudiments  of  knowledge,  some 
with  a  considerable  degree  of  intellectual  appreciation 
and  ambition ;  the  greater  demand  made  on  the  time  and 
attention  both  of  teachers  and  students  by  specialized 
studies  or  tastes ;  — all  this  involves  the  risk  of  a  dis- 
proportionate progress,  and  even  of  a  devotion  to  the 
parts  which  may  involve  disaster  to  the  whole. 

Here  is,  first,  a  normal  school,  training  teachers  to  help 
their  race ;  but  as  the  general  level  of  that  race  is  lifted 
from  illiteracy  to  elementary  education,  and  from  element- 
ary education  to  specialized  training,  the  standard  of 
teaching  also  must  rise  to  meet  the  new  demand.  Rural 
high  schools  for  Negroes,  in  which  agriculture  and  the 
domestic  arts  have  special  recognition,  are  being  estab- 
lished in  many  parts  of  the  South ;  and  the  Hampton 
training  should  appreciate  this  new  sign  of  progress  and 
provide  leaders  for  this  new  type  of  school.  What  was 
a  sufficient  preparation  for  usefulness  a  generation  ago, 
does  not  equip  a  teacher  for  efficiency  today.  The  best 
that  the  modern  science  of  education  has  to  offer  is  not  too 
good  for  colored  schools.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  this 
adaptation  to  an  advancing  race  must  not  detach  the 
Hampton  scheme  from  its  original  obligation.  The  call 
to  the  higher  training  must  not  displace  the  mission  to 

307 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

humbler  duties.  Provision  may  be  made  at  the  top  of 
the  Hampton  scheme  for  students  of  exceptional  gifts  to 
prepare  them  for  more  academic  institutions,  and  special 
scholarships  may  be  endowed  to  promote  their  transfer ; 
but  this  development  of  advanced  studies  must  not  dis- 
tract the  attention  either  of  teachers  or  of  students  from 
the  fundamental  principle  of  a  trade-school,  or  suggest 
an  aristocracy  of  culture  within  the  spiritual  democracy 
of  Hampton.  All  this  is  a  question  of  proportion  and 
adjustment.  A  gain  at  one  point  must  not  mean  loss  at 
another.  The  exceptional  student  and  the  average 
student,  the  missionary  motive  and  the  academic  spirit, 
the  preparation  for  scholarship  and  the  consecration  to 
elementary  teaching,  the  body  of  instruction  and  the 
soul  of  the  school,  must  be  co-operative  and  contributory, 
and  must  move  together  if  they  move  at  all. 

It  has  been  intimated  in  an  important  study  of  the 
Negro  Question  as  the  probable  opinion  of  "all  competent 
students"  *  that  "the  distance  separating  the  highest 
tenth  [of  Negroes]  from  the  lowest  tenth  has  become 
greater,  and  that  the  highest  tenth  is  far  better  and  far 
better  off  than  formerly,  and  the  lowest  tenth  is  worse, 
and  perhaps  worse  off,  than  in  slavery."  Even  if  this 
conclusion  were  justified — and  it  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  the  "lowest  tenth"  in  freedom  could  be  worse  off 
than  the  correspondingly  "worst  off"  were  as  slaves — the 
practical  inference  to  be  derived  would  be  as  clear  as  from 
a  more  hopeful  view.    The  distance  separating  the  better 

*  Ency.  Brit.,  iith  ed.,  XIX,  p.  347. 
308 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

off  from  the  "worst  ofF"  must  be  reduced,  not  by  de- 
pressing the  better  off,  but  by  lifting  the  "worst  off."  If 
such  a  separation  exist,  it  proves  that  the  problem  of 
education  has  been  but  half  solved.  The  only  way  out 
of  the  perils  which  the  existence  of  a  group  "worse  off 
than  in  slavery" — if  such  a  group  exist — creates,  is  the 
way  up.  An  education  which  reaches  down  to  the  "worst 
off"  and  makes  them  better  off,  is  as  essential  for  the 
white  race  as  for  the  black.  A  disproportionate  advance 
only  prolongs  the  period  of  hostility  and  maladjustment. 
The  same  problem  of  proportion  meets  one  at  each  point 
of  administration,  as  it  does  in  the  symmetrical  growth  of 
every  living  organism.  Are  academic  studies  likely  to 
suffer  as  a  trade-school  thrives;  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
shall  book-learning  keep  pace  with  manual  facility  ?  A 
critic  of  Hampton  has  said  that  he  found  there  pupils 
who  were  not  sufficiently  trained  in  mathematics  to 
make  good  wagon-wheels.  If  that  discovery  was  actu- 
ally made  it  illustrates  the  risks  of  disproportion  in  edu- 
cation. The  mechanic  arts,  and  even  the  household  arts, 
have  become  at  so  many  points  fine  arts,  that  the  differ- 
ence between  excellence  and  mediocrity  is  not  so  much  in 
manual  dexterity  as  in  theoretical  equipment  and  applied 
science.  Handwork  and  headwork  are  not  alternative 
forms  of  progress,  they  are  like  the  legs  whose  alternating 
steps  make  one  walk  firmly  and  straight. 

Another  critic  of  the  Negroes  has  affirmed  that  they 
are  good  workmen  on  things  in  bulk,  but  inefficient  in 
matters  of  detail.     They  can  "turn  over  bales  of  cotton 

309 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

faster  than  any  other  people  in  the  world";  but  "when  it 
comes  to  wrapping  single  copies  of  paper,  they  are  defi- 
cient." The  Negro  "is  a  splendid  man  in  a  boiler  factory, 
but  of  small  account  in  a  machine  shop."  He  never  will 
be  a  "good  watchmaker."  In  other  words,  according  to 
this  observer,  strength  of  arm  has  been  developed  instead 
of  the  dexterity  which  needs  intelligence,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence the  cruder  and  more  laborious  industries  are  as- 
signed to  the  Negro.  If  this  comment  is  in  any  degree 
justified,  its  lesson  is  obvious.  Muscle  is  no  substitute 
for  mind ;  brute  force  will  always  be  the  servant  of  edu- 
cated skill;  and  efficiency  comes,  as  Booker  Washington 
finely  said,  of  doing  a  common  thing  in  an  uncommon 
way. 

Finally,  the  same  problem  of  a  symmetrical  and 
balanced  system  finds  its  most  subtle  expression  in  the 
association  of  religion  with  education,  and  of  faith  with 
works.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  Negro  may 
be  made  a  good  workman,  and  it  is  at  the  same  time 
well  known  that  he  is  highly  susceptible  to  religious  emo- 
tions ;  but  to  adjust  and  correlate  piety  with  practice 
and  faith  with  works,  so  that  they  shall  be  co-operative 
factors  in  a  well-balanced  life,  is  by  no  means  an  easy 
task.  A  gospel  of  efficiency  may,  as  has  often  been 
feared,  rob  the  Negro  of  his  idealism  and  degrade  him 
to  a  land-getting  materialist;  and  a  religion  which  still 
bears  the  marks  of  its  tropical  ancestry  may  easily 
substitute  heat  for  light,  and  hysteria  for  morality.  How 
to  make  faith  reasonable  and  reason  faithful ;  how  to  make 
310 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

of  religion  not  a  way  of  talking  but  a  way  of  walking,  so 
that,  as  the  Christian  Apostle  said,  "We  walk  by  faith," 
— this  is  the  problem,  never  completely  solved,  which  each 
growing  life  has  to  meet,  and  which  calls  for  a  peculiar 
degree  of  patient  faith  in  those  who  are  to  guide  the 
strenuous  labor  and  the  quick  emotions  of  Negro  students. 

Such  in  brief — now  that  the  questions  of  existence  and 
form  have  been  disposed  of  at  Hampton — is  the  funda- 
mental task  of  the  future;  a  harmonizing  and  unifying 
of  the  forces  already  active ;  a  securing  of  symmetry  and 
an  avoidance  of  excess  and  defect ;  a  capacity  to  see 
things  steadily  and  see  them  whole ;  an  education,  in 
other  words,  not  merely  for  shops  and  farms  and  school- 
rooms or,  on  the  other  hand,  for  a  world  of  heaven  where 
happiness  shall  be  found  in  idleness  and  worship  shall  be 
undisturbed  by  work,  but  an  Education  which  is  for 
Life,  and  for  life  at  its  full;  with  the  mind  re-enforcing 
the  heart,  and  the  heart  inspiring  the  conduct,  and  the 
knowledge  of  the  teaching  gained  through  the  doing  of 
the  will.  This,  indeed,  is  the  meaning  of  all  education. 
It  is,  as  the  word  implies,  the  drawing  out  from  confusion 
and  maladjustment  of  a  consistent  and  effective  personal- 
ity. The  aim  of  education  is,  in  short,  the  same  as  that 
of  religion.  Both  of  these  great  experiences  come,  as  the 
Master  of  religion  said  He  came,  and  as  Dr.  Frissell 
with  constant  reiteration  assured  his  students  that  their 
education  came,  that  they  might  have  life  and  might  have 
it  abundantly. 

When  one  passes  from  these  reflections  on  the  institu- 

3" 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

tional  life  of  Hampton  and  turns  for  a  moment  to  the 
larger  problems  which  environ  the  school,  and  among 
which  its  own  work  is  set,  he  is  met  by  several  elementary 
truths  which  have  already  become  almost  commonplace, 
but  which  must  be  more  frankly  faced  in  the  immediate 
future.  The  first  of  these  obvious  truths  is  this, — that  the 
Negro  race  is  a  permanent  factor  in  American  civilization. 
It  is  there  and  there  to  stay.  Many  schemes  have  been 
proposed  for  the  colonization  or  subjugation  or  even 
extermination  of  this  group  in  the  population ;  but  these 
suggestions  must  now  be  regarded  not  only  as  inhuman 
but  as  archaic,  when  applied  to  one-tenth  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States.  Whatever  is  to  happen  to  these 
ten  millions  of  colored  citizens  must  happen  through 
the  normal  processes  of  citizenship.  They  are,  as 
Booker  Washington  wittily  said,  the  only  contingent  of 
the  American  people  who  came  to  these  shores  by  special 
and  urgent  invitation,  and  their  destiny  cannot  be 
detached  from  the  general  development  of  American  life. 

In  the  light  of  recent  history  it  is  amusing  to  recall 
the  "solutions"  of  the  Negro  problem,  which  have  at 
times  appeared  to  be  sufficient.  Thus  an  English  ob- 
server, after  a  brief  tour  through  the  Southern  States, 
dismisses  from  consideration  all  other  suggestions,  and 
proposes  the  plan  of  a  Negro  State,  to  be  carved  out  of  the 
remoter  parts  of  Southern  California  or  Texas,  and  to 
provide  **not  a  white  man's  land,  but  a  black  man's 
land."  *     This  would  be,  in  a  word,  the  renewal  of  a 

*  W.  Archer,  "Through  Afro-America,"  1910,  p.  237. 
312 


HAMPTON   INSTirUTK   WATKR FRONT 
AT  THE   KNI)  Ol"   FHTY  YEARS 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

reservation  system,  applying  to  a  population  thirty 
times  that  of  the  Indian  tribes  the  same  hopeless  scheme 
of  isolation  and  protection,  and  involving  the  same  in- 
evitable invasion  of  those  regions  **  intended  by  a  benefi- 
cent Creator  as  an  asylum,"  if  they  were  discovered  to  be 
rich  in  fields  or  mines,  and  excited  the  rapacity  of  the 
dominant  race. 

A  second  plain  truth  to  be  observed  at  this  point  is 
that  such  a  segregation  would  be,  not  only  impracticable, 
but  most  undesirable.  The  region  where  the  Negro 
race  is  now  for  the  most  part  settled  needs  its  presence 
and  its  service.  The  Southern  States  control  in  their 
cotton-crop  the  largest  natural  monopoly  in  the  world ; 
the  supremacy  of  which  no  foreign  product  has  been  able! 
seriously  to  endanger.  This  precious  monopoly,  however, 
with  many  contributory  crops  and  trades,  is  dependent 
upon  Negro  labor.  Immigration  applicable  to  this  pur- 
pose has  proved  impossible  to  secure.  A  distinguished 
Southerner,  in  addressing  an  audience  in  Boston  not  long 
ago,  wittily  remarked  that  immigrants  were  as  rare  in 
South  Carolina  as  Puritans  had  become  in  Massachusetts. 
The  Negro  race,  originally  imported  for  forced  labor  in 
the  cotton  fields,  has  proved  singularly  adapted  under 
freedom  to  the  same  productive  industry ;  and  continues 
to  be  essential  to  the  agriculture  of  the  Southern  States 
and  the  cotton-mills  of  the  world. 

Yet  this  indispensable  service  cannot  be  long  secured 
under  conditions  which  are  in  any  degree  reminiscent  of 
slavery.     The  serfdom  of  a   share-system  will   not    be 

313 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

permanently  endured  by  a  race  which  is  rapidly  acquir- 
ing both  economic  and  political  importance.  The  Negro 
cannot  be  expected  to  remain  at  the  South  for  the  sake 
of  the  white  planter.  He  must  be  held  there  as  a  land- 
owner, whose  self-interest  coincides  with  that  of  his 
white  neighbor,  and  whose  love  of  the  soil  and  the 
South  is  encouraged  by  opportunities  for  ownership  and 
thrift. 

The  pressing  importance  of  this  just  recognition  of 
Negro  proprietorship  has  been  abruptly  forced  upon 
many  minds  by  the  suddenly  rising  wave  of  Negro 
migration  to  the  North,  flowing  to  centres  of  high 
wages,  and  leaving  many  Southern  industries  stripped 
of  wage-earners.  This  precipitate  movement  is  regarded 
by  some  friends  of  the  Negro  as  a  fortunate  enlargement 
of  his  opportunity,  and  by  others  is  deplored  as  involv- 
ing risks  to  health  and  morals  greater  than  its  economic 
gains.  In  any  event,  however,  it  must  be  recognized  as 
a  warning  that  conditions  at  the  South  must  be  swiftly 
ameliorated  if  the  movement  is  to  be  checked.  If 
industrial  compensation  and  social  justice  are  more  ac- 
cessible elsewhere,  neither  inclemency  of  climate  nor 
lack  of  housing  nor  risk  of  disease  will  arrest  the  migra- 
tion toward  better  pay  and  better  treatment.  The 
remedy  is  in  the  hands  of  the  South.  It  is  in  the  sub- 
stitution of  encouragement  for  repression,  of  education 
for  illiteracy,  of  ownership  for  dependence,  and  of 
statesmanship  for  politics.  "The  causes  of  the  migra- 
tion," Principal  Moton  of  Tuskegee  Institute  has  lately 

314 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

said,  "have  been  in  the  main  economic,  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  of  the  fact  that  the  Negroes,  as  a  rule,  have 
taken  advantage  of  the  present  opportunity  to  leave  be- 
hind them  poor  schools,  inadequate  police  protection,  and 
exasperating  farming  conditions,  under  which  so  many  of 
them  have  worked  for  so  many  years."  The  migration 
to  the  North,  in  other  words,  is,  as  Dr.  Moton  adds,  a 
challenge  to  the  South  for  a  "statesmanlike  attitude" 
toward  its  Negro  population. 

To  these  elementary  truths  must  be  added  the  fact 
that  the  Negro  race  during  the  last  half-century  has 
proved  itself  capable,  under  favoring  circumstances, 
of  rapid  self-development  and,  in  some  instances,  of  dis- 
tinguished achievements  in  administrative  leadership, 
in  literature,  or  in  art.  Meagre  as  have  been  the  op- 
portunities offered  to  Negroes  for  elementary  education, 
the  reduction  in  illiteracy  from  90  per  cent  to  30  per  cent 
indicates  a  progress  without  parallel  in  history.  Not 
less  significant  than  this  general  rise  of  the  racial  level 
are  the  occasional  evidences  of  genius  in  poetry,  music, 
or  learning,  which  lift  themselves  like  heights  out  of  a 
plain. 

It  is  impossible  to  assign  these  exceptional  gifts 
wholly  to  an  admixture  of  white  blood.  Some  of  these 
leaders  or  artists  are  light  in  color,  and  some  are  very  dark ; 
and  their  achievements  are  quite  as  notable  for  utilizing 
the  resources  of  their  own  race  as  for  a  successful  imitation 
of  the  more  sophisticated  spirit  of  white  civilization.  It  is 
difficult  for  any  lover  of  Hampton  Institute  to  draw  a 

31S 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

color-line  which  excludes  from  distinction  the  present 
Principal  of  Tuskegee  Institute;  or  for  any  lover  of 
literature  to  forget  the  appealing  lyrics  of  a  poet  whose 
parents  were  slaves  "without  admixture  of  white  blood," 
and  who,  to  a  critic  as  discerning  as  Mr.  Howells,  was 
"the  final  proof  that  God  had  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men/'  Few  modern  verses  are  more  affecting 
in  themselves,  or  more  genuine  in  racial  feeling,  than  the 
lines  of  this  "full-blooded  Negro,"  who,  dying  at  the  age 
of  thirty-four,  sings  of  his  own  short  career : — 

"Because  I  had  loved  so  deeply, 
Because  I  had  loved  so  long, 
God  in  His  great  compassion 
Gave  me  the  gift  of  song. 

Because  I  have  loved  so  vainly. 
And  sung  with  such  faltering  breath, 
The  Master  in  infinite  mercy 
Offers  His  boon  of  death."  * 

In  short,  this  one-tenth  of  the  American  people  which  is 
of  Negro  descent,  is  not  only  a  permanent  and  an  essential 
element  in  national  life,  but  on  the  whole,  and  with  many 
halts  and  retrogressions,  is  on  the  way  up  to  self-support 
and  self-respect ;  and  while,  like  every  race,  it  has  special 
defects  and  foibles,  it  has  proved  much  less  refractory 
and  much  more  susceptible  to  American  ideals  than 
many  groups  of  immigrants,  by  whom  the  United  States 

*  Paul  Laurence  Dunbar,  "Lyrics  of  Lowly  Life,"  1898. 
316 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

has  been  regarded  as  a  source  of  profit  rather  than  as  a 
home  to  love. 

No  demonstration  of  this  racial  loyalty  has  been  more 
convincing  than  the  response  of  young  Negroes  to  the 
call  of  the  country  for  service  in  the  World  War.  They 
might  without  serious  self-reproach  have  pleaded  that  the 
Government  had  promised  them  citizenship  and  had 
tolerated  disfranchisement  and  disabilities.  They  might 
have  argued  that  a  war  to  make  the  world  safe  for  democ- 
racy was  not  a  cause  to  enlist  the  enthusiasm  of  those  for 
whom  democracy  had  not  been  made  safe.  The  fact  is, 
however,  that  they  have  offered  themselves  for  service 
with  a  spontaneity  and  generosity  equalled  by  few  types 
of  Americans,  and  have  been  deterred  from  enlistment, 
not  so  much  by  their  own  lack  of  patriotism,  as  by  the 
disinclination  of  some  white  officials  to  accept  them  as 
soldiers.  "Of  all  races,"  the  Chicago  Tribune  remarked 
in  reporting  the  registration  for  draft,  "the  black  was 
the  whitest."  The  same  qualities  which,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  volume,  made  the 
Negro  a  serviceable  soldier  in  the  Civil  War — the  habit 
of  obedience,  the  vivid  appreciation  of  the  drama  and 
romance  of  war,  and  a  courage  which  approached  fatalism 
— have  now  reappeared  in  more  controlled  and  conscien- 
tious forms,  and  if  the  young  men  of  the  Negro  race 
are  not  thwarted  by  prejudice  or  incited  to  passion,  they 
are  prepared  to  supply  the  American  army  with  a  large 
contingent  of  hardy  and  easily  trained   recruits. 

It  is  quite  true  that  these  young  Negroes  as  they  return 

317 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

from  the  War — if  they  do  return — ^will  re-enter  civil  life 
with  a  new  self-confidence,  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  that 
people  who  still  cherish  the  hope  of  controlling  a  sup- 
pressed and  servile  race  may  feel  some  apprehension  at 
the  prospect.  If,  however,  the  security  of  a  nation 
depends  upon  increase  of  intelligence  and  self-discipline, 
then  the  sudden  ripening  of  character  through  the  expe- 
rience of  war,  which  has  already  transformed  millions  of 
white  youths  from  boys  to  men,  will  make  better  citizens  of 
colored  men  also,  and  will  hasten  in  an  unprecedented 
degree  the  evolution  of  a  stable  civilization. 

The  statistics  of  Negroes  as  enlisted  men  or  as  commis- 
sioned officers  cannot  be  completely  presented  here,  for 
they  represent  a  moving  and  steadily  increasing  column, 
whose  total  dimensions  will  not  be  known  until  the  end  of 
the  War  arrives.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  in  the  Draft 
ordered  by  Act  of  Congress  on  May  i8,  191 7,  there  were 
953,899  colored  registrants  and  that  of  these  about 
83,000  were  certified  for  service.  In  addition  to  these 
selected  recruits  there  were,  in  January  191 8  approxi- 
mately 10,000  enlisted  colored  men  in  the  Regular  Army ; 
7000  in  the  National  Guard;  1250  candidates  for  com- 
missions at  the  Reserve  Officers'  Training  Camp  at  Fort 
Des  Moines,  Iowa;  and  15,016  enlisted  men  in  the  U.  S. 
Navy.  At  the  beginning  of  191 8  more  than  100,000 
drafted  Negroes  had  been  assigned  to  15  cantonments; 
678  colored  men  had  been  commissioned  (160  captains, 
320  first  lieutenants;  198  second  lieutenants);  and  the 
official  direction  of  these  recruits  had  become  so  serious  a 
318 


HAMPlOiN    HAllALION  OF  CADETS 


>- 

^HH 

ifli 

^^i^^^^WivwiiHM 

^^^ff^^WwB^PUHPlBpW^'' 

^Ea 

CARL   SCHURZ   HALL 
Academic  building 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

task  as  to  justify  detaching  the  Secretary  of  Tuskegee 
Institute  from  his  pressing  duties  and  appointing  him  a 
Special  Assistant  to  the  Secretary  of  War.*  At  a  later 
date  the  "Roll  of  Honor"  of  Hampton  Institute  had 
reached  the  following  total : — 

Students  enHsted  to  March  191 8 61 

Negro  graduates  and  ex-students  enHsted. .  .136 
Indian  graduates  and  ex-students  enlisted . . .  23 

Total      220 

Of  these,  19  were  lieutenants,  and  a  large  number  non- 
commissioned officers.  In  addition  to  these  student 
soldiers,  Hampton  Institute  was  in  March  191 8  repre- 
sented in  the  War  by  8  white  instructors  and  6  sons  of 
instructors. 

A  letter  from  a  student  of  the  Calhoun  School  to  his 
teachers  sufficiently  indicates  the  motives  by  which  these 
young  Negroes  are  stirred.  "I  am  not  desirous,"  he 
says,  "to  go  because  of  any  illusions  or  delusions  of 
patriotism  or  fighting  for  my  country.  I  want  to  do  my 
service  in  the  hope  that  through  it,  and  that  of  thousands 
of  other  young  lives,  Negroes  of  the  future  may  in  real 
truth  have  a  country.  It  can  come  only  as  Negroes  do 
their  full  share  of  sacrifice."  To  this  may  be  added  a 
similar  testimony  from  a  Hampton  graduate:  "Why 
should  I,  a  Negro,  be  willing  to  lay  down  my  life  in  this 
war  ?    This  question  comes  on  every  hand.     My  only 

*  This  official,  Mr.  Etnmett  J.  Scott,  has  kindly  supplied  these  impressive 
figures. 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

answer  is  this :  This  old  world  is  going  to  be  made  better 
only  by  inches.  Every  inch  upward  is  going  to  be  won 
only  by  sacrifice.  The  sentiment  towards  the  oppressed, 
Negro  or  Jew,  is  going  to  be  improved  only  as  world 
sentiment  against  oppression  is  strengthened.  I  believe 
that  the  greatest  outcome  of  this  war  is  going  to  be  the 
moving  of  the  world  one  step  forward  towards  love  of 
justice.  None  should  be  so  willing  to  sacrifice  as  they 
who  have  least  to  lose  and  most  to  gain." 

Here,  then,  is  a  race  which,  instead  of  being  irre- 
trievably destined  for  servile  tasks,  is  one  which  with 
definite  Hmitations  and  temptations,  with  the  inheritance 
of  slavery  still  clogging  its  steps,  and  disinclined,  as  one 
critic  has  said,  "to  sustained  application  and  constructive 
conduct,"  * — a  defect  not  wholly  unknown  among  whites 
— has  none  the  less,  in  the  fifty  years  of  its  opportunity, 
made  extraordinary  progress.  It  has  proved  itself 
teachable  and  long-suffering,  as  quick  with  gratitude  as 
with  passion,  undisturbed  by  industrial  or  social  restless- 
ness or  national  disloyalty,  a  lover  for  the  most  part  of 
the  soil  and  the  South,  and  rapidly  developing  a  race- 
consciousness  which  seeks,  not  amalgamation  with  the 
white  stock,  but  simply  the  right  to  self-respecting 
existence  and  to  such  decent  consideration  from  other 
citizens  as  may  be  fairly  deserved. 

If  these  elementary  facts  are  undeniable,  then  they 
point  to  but  one  way  of  insuring  social  security  in  the 

*  H.  W.  Odum,  "  Social  and  Mental  Traits  of  the  Negro,"  Columbia  Uni- 
versity Studies,  1910,  p.  52. 

320 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

future  of  the  United  States.  It  is  by  accelerating,  through 
legislation  and  education,  the  pace  of  progress  from  illit- 
eracy and  inefficiency  to  intelligent  and  efficient  citizen- 
ship. There  is  but  one  way  out  of  what  is  called  the 
Negro  Problem, — it  is  the  way  that  leads  up.  No  theory 
of  national  life  can  be  more  misdirected  than  the  view 
that  security  for  one  race  can  be  ensured  by  the  repres- 
sion or  depression  of  another.  The  risks  which  are  really 
threatening  are,  on  the  contrary,  those  created  either  by 
a  prevailing  illiteracy  or  by  an  unassimilated  culture. 
Lack  of  education  and  top-heavy  education  are  almost 
equally  perilous,  both  for  the  Negro  and  for  his  white 
neighbors.  If  a  little  knowledge  is  a  dangerous  thing, 
then  a  pretence  of  knowledge  is,  to  the  fertile  imagination 
and  ready  tongue  of  the  Negro,  hardly  less  dangerous. 
From  these  kindred  risks  of  ignorance  and  superficiaHty, 
of  ilHteracy  and  plausibility,  there  is  but  one  escape.  It 
is  in  a  well-grounded  and  progressive  education,  accessible 
to  all,  beginning  where  one  is,  inculcating  first  the  element- 
ary virtues  of  integrity,  thrift,  and  persistency,  but  denying 
to  none  the  full  use  of  gifts  which  in  the  process  of  self- 
development  may  be  disclosed.  The  only  remedy  for  an 
insufficient  education  or  a  misdirected  education  is  a  more 
sensible  education.  The  only  democracy  which  is  secure 
is  one  where  common  sense  and  public  spirit  join  hands  to 
guarantee  an  Education  for  Life.  The  issue  has  never 
been  more  clearly  stated  than  in  the  words  of  a  Negro 
poet,  of  whom  Professor  Brander  Matthews  writes  :  "  He 
has  been  nobly  successful  in  expressing  the  higher  aspira- 

321 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

tions  of  his  own  people,  who  are  our  fellow-citizens  now 
and  forever." 

"  How  would  you  have  us  ?    As  we  are  ? 
Or  sinking  'neath  the  load  we  bear  ? 
Our  eyes  fixed  forward  on  a  star  ? 
Or  gazing  empty  at  despair  ? 

Rising  or  falling  ?     Men  or  things  ?  ' 
With  dragging  pace  or  footsteps  fleet  ? 
Strong,  willing  sinews  in  your  wings  ? 
Or  tightening  chains  about  your  feet  ? "  * 

At  this  point,  then,  the  problem  of  the  future  and  the 
work  of  Hampton  Institute  meet.  This  application  of 
common-sense  to  the  education  of  a  backward  race  is 
precisely  what  has  won  for  Hampton  the  confidence  of 
the  most  judicious  students  of  American  life.  "I  be- 
lieve," Dr.  Wallace  Buttrick,  President  of  the  General 
Education  Board,  a  missionary  statesman,  and  an  unfail- 
ing friend  of  Hampton,  has  testified,  that  "this  institution 
comes  nearer  having  found  the  clue  to  the  maze  in  the 
great  process  of  training  people  for  life,  in  life,  and  by 
life,  than  any  other  institution  in  the  world."  "With 
inadequate  support,"  writes  the  Dean  of  the  Teachers 
College  in  Columbia  University,  "Hampton  Institute 
has  effected  a  revolution  in  the  training  of  the  black  race, 
and  has  profoundly  changed  our  ideals  of  the  training  of 
the  white  race  also."     "I  love  Hampton  more  and  more," 

*  J.  W.  Johnson,  "  Fifty  Years  and  Other  Poems,"  1917,  p.  5. 
322 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

said  Booker  Washington,  "  because  she  is  not  only  giving 
the  Negro  knowledge,  but  is  seeing  and  preaching  the 
needs  of  the  race  as  no  other  institution  is  doing."  Is  it 
not  even  possible  that  this  "great  process  of  training 
people  for  life,  in  life  and  by  life"  may  advance  beyond 
the  needs  of  a  single  race,  and  invade,  with  beneficent 
effects,  that  protected  region  occupied  by  what  is  called 
the  ** Higher  Education"  ?  It  has  already  been  observed 
that  a  chasm  exists  between  industrial  training  as  pro- 
moted at  Hampton  Institute  and  the  academic  culture 
which  some  of  its  most  promising  graduates  desire ;  and 
that  these  youths,  though  they  may  have  appropriated 
all  that  Hampton  has  to  teach,  find  it  difficult  to  obtain 
access  to  Northern  Colleges.  May  it  not  be,  however, 
that  this  chasm  is  created  quite  as  much  by  the  limited 
scope  of  traditional  education  as  by  the  defects  of  a  school 
like  Hampton  ?  Must  the  connection  be  made  solely 
by  superadding  to  trade-education  new  courses  in  lan- 
guage and  literature,  or  may  it  be  quite  as  legitimately 
made  by  enlarging  the  area  of  a  liberal  education  to 
include  courses  in  technical  skill .?  May  not  the  train- 
ing of  the  hand  and  will  come  to  be  recognized  as  essen- 
tial to  a  complete  educational  system,  and  the  bridge 
between  study  and  life,  which  is  now  but  half-built,  be 
extended  from  its  academic  as  well  as  from  its  industrial 
end  ? 

In  these  prophetic  intimations  of  a  culture  appropriate, 
not  to  a  single  race  alone  but  to  the  needs  of  a  modern 
world,  may  perhaps  some  day  be  discovered  the  most 

323 


EDUCATION  FOR  LIFE 

permanent  contribution  of  Hampton  Institute  to  the 
future  of  education.  Such  a  school,  whatever  may  be 
the  race  which  has  the  advantage  of  its  teaching,  is  not 
to  be  conducted  or  estimated  as  an  end,  but  as  a  way. 
It  is  not  a  closed  system  but  an  open  door.  It  recognizes 
no  discrimination  between  higher  and  lower  studies. 
All  vocations  should  be  open  to  the  Negro ;  but  his 
standing  is  determined,  not  by  his  title,  but  by  his  effi- 
ciency. A  well-trained  blacksmith  is  better  educated 
than  an  ignorant  preacher;  agriculture  well  understood 
is  a  higher  study  than  law  half-learned  or  medicine  un- 
professionally  practised.  The  secret,  both  of  personal 
character  and  of  social  security,  according  to  the 
teaching  of  Hampton  Institute,  for  any  race,  black  or 
white,  is  to  be  found  in  the  correlated  and  co-operative 
training  of  the  head,  the  heart,  and  the  hand ;  of 
thought,  feeling,  and  will ;  of  intelligence,  reverence,  and 
work. 

We  hear  much  in  these  days  of  Problems,  as  though  life 
were  an  unending  series  of  difficult  solutions,  like  a  class- 
room exercise  in  arithmetic ;  and  among  these  puzzles 
which  beset  the  present  day  one  of  the  most  perplexing 
has  been  the  Negro  Problem.  But  if  Hampton  Institute 
is  justified  in  its  intention  and  spirit,  its  most  significant 
result  should  be  the  removing  of  its  graduates  from  the 
category  of  problems,  and  the  setting  of  them  in  well- 
defined  careers,  without  complications  or  illusions  about 
themselves  or  the  world.  A  good  maxim  for  a  Negro — 
and  indeed  for  anyone  in  these  days — would  be  to  stop 

324 


THE  STORY  OF  HAMPTON  INSTITUTE 

thinking  of  oneself,  or  of  one's  race,  or  of  the  Universe, 
as  a  problem ;  and  to  do  the  day's  work,  and  think  the 
day's  thought,  and  pray  the  day's  prayer,  not  as  though 
the  world  were  waiting  to  be  solved,  but  as  though  it 
were  waiting  to  be  served. 


32s 


APPENDICES 

I.   Bibliography. 

(Acts  of  Incorporation. 
Annotated  list  of  Trustees,  with  time  of  service. 
List  of  Curators,  with  time  of  service. 

3.  Maps  of  grounds,  with  index. 

4.  List  of  buildings,  with  dates  and  cost. 

5.  Gifts  for,  and  cost  of,  plant. 

6.  Income  and  expenditure  for  general  purposes. 

7.  Increase  of  endowment  by  years  and  summary  of  endowment  funds. 

8.  Chart  showing  increase  in  endowment. 

9.  Chart  showing  annual  income  and  expenditure. 

10.  Changes  in  curriculum,  with  dates. 

11.  Library  chronology  and  chart  showing  attendance  and  circulation. 

12.  Chart  showing  enrolment    of  Negro  and  Indian  boarding  students  and 

number  of  graduates  by  years. 

13.  Charts  showing  occupations  of  Negro  graduates  and  ex-studentx, 

14.  Charts  showing  occupations  of  Hampton-trained  Indians. 

15.  Chart  showing  Trade  Certificates  given  (1895-1917). 

16.  Permanent  scholarships. 

17.  List  of  Armstrong  and  Hampton  Associations. 

Note:  The  above  Appendices  were  prepared  by  members  of  the  Hampton  Staff, 
as  follows : — 
I.   Jane  E.  Davis,  Publication  Office. 
2  and  17.     Emily  K.  Herron,  Principal's  Secretary. 
3.   John  Sugden,  Superintendent  of  Construction. 
,•   f  /;  »  Q  /x  o^j  ,/;] Frank  K.  Rogers,  Treasurer. 
4»  5.  t>,  7,  8,  9,  and  lb  I  p^ank  D.  Banks,  Head  Bookkeeper. 

10.  George  P.  Phenix,  Vice-Principal. 

11.  Leonora  E.  Herron,  Librarian. 

12.  13,  and  15.   Statistics  by  Myrtilla  J.  Sherman,  Negro  Record  Office. 
14.    Statistics  by  Caroline  W.  Andrus,  Indian  Record  Office. 


APPENDIX  ONE 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Armstrong,  Samuel  Chapman.  Apostle  of  Good  Will,  by 
Robert  R.  Moton,  Principal  of  Tuskegee  Institute.  South- 
ern Workman,  March  191 7. 

Armstrong's  Contribution   to  World   Peace,   by  Dr. 

Talcott  Williams,  Director  of  Columbia  University  School 
of  Journalism,  Pulitzer  Foundation.  Southern  Workman, 
March  1916. 

Ideals  of  Education  (1914).     Hampton  Institute.     A 

collection  of  principles  of  education,  original  with  S.  C. 
Armstrong,  with  introduction  by  Francis  G.  Peabody, 
biographical  note  by  Helen  W.  Ludlow,  and  including 
General  Armstrong's  first  report  (1870)  and  the  Memoranda 
found  after  his  death. 

Following    the    Founder,    by    Francis    G.    Peabody, 

Plummer  Professor  of  Christian  Morals,  Emeritus,  Harvard 
University.     Southern  Workman,  February  1910. 

Founder's  Day  at  Hampton  (1898),  by  Francis  G. 

Peabody.     Hampton  Institute 

General  Armstrong  and  His  Work,  by  Hon.  James 

Bryce.     Southern  Workman,  March   1910. 

General   Armstrong's   Life   and   Work,    by   Franklin 

Carter,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.  (formerly  President  of  Williams 
College).     Southern  Workman,  April  1902. 

Hampton's  Founder  and  His  Ideals,  by  Rev.  J.  H. 

Denison,  D.D.,  Williamstown,  Mass.  Southern  Workman, 
March  1903.  A  vivid  character  sketch  of  S.  C.  Arm- 
strong by  a  college  classmate. 

329 


APPENDIX  ONE 

Armstrong,  Samuel  Chapman.  Leader  of  Freemen,  A.  Life 
Story  of  Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong  for  U.  S.  Soldiers  and 
Sailors,  edited  by  Everett  T,  and  Paul  G.  Tomlinson  (191 7). 
American  Sunday  School  Union,  Chestnut  St.,  Phila. 

Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong,  by  J.  H,  Denison,  D.D., 

Atlantic  Monthly,  January  1894. 

Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong,  a   Biographical  Study, 

by  Edith  A.  Talbot,  his  daughter.     Doubleday,  Page  and 
Co.,  1904.     Apply  to  Hampton  Institute. 

Some  Results  of  the  Armstrong  Idea,  by  Booker  T. 


Washington,  Principal  of  Tuskegee-  Institute,  1881-1915. 
Southern  Workman,  March  1909. 
Frissell,    Hollis    Burke.      Hollis    Burke    Frissell,    by    Lyman 
Abbott.     Outlook,  August  15,  191 7. 

Master  Builder,  A  (photograph),  by  Amelia  Josephine 

Burr.     Bellman,  December  15,  1917. 

Southern    Workman  Memorial  Number  —  November 

1 91 7.     Appreciations  by  Hampton  graduates  and  others. 

Statesman  of  the  Race  Problem,  A  (photograph),  by 


Ray  Stannard  Baker.  World's  Work,  January  191 8. 
Hampton  Institute.  Comparison  of  the  Past  and  Present  Aims 
of  Hampton  Institute,  by  Thomas  Jesse  Jones,  Ph.D., 
Specialist,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education.  Southern  Workman, 
March  1903. 

Fourteenth    Hampton    Negro    Conference,    The,    by 

Wm.  Anthony  Aery.     Survey,  August  13,  1910. 

From  Servitude  to  Service.     Old  South  Lectures  on 

History  and  Work  of  Southern  Institutions  for  Education 
of  the  Negro.  American  Unitarian  Association.  Uni- 
versity Press,  Cambridge,  1905.  Chapter  III,  a  lecture 
on  Hampton  Institute  by  Dr.  Frissell. 

General  Armstrong  and  the  Hampton  Institute  (il- 


lustrated), by  Edwin  A.  Start.     New  England  Magazine, 
June  1892. 

330 


APPENDIX  ONE 

Hampton  Institute.     Hampton  a  Training  Station  for  Two  Races 
(illustrated),  by  Sydney  D.  Frissell.     Survey^  June  7,  1913. 

Hampton  Idea  of  Education,  by  Charles  W.   Eliot. 

Southern  Workman,  January  1910. 

Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute,  by  Helen 

W.  Ludlow.     Harper  s  Monthly,  October  1873. 

Memories  of  Old  Hampton  (illustrated).     Published 

by  the  Armstrong  League  of  Hampton  Workers  (1909), 
Hampton  Institute. 

Religious  Folk-Songs  of  the  Negro  (1909).     Hampton 

Institute. 

Spirit  of  Hampton,  The  (illustrated),  by  Amelia  Jose- 
phine Burr.     Bellman,  Minneapolis,  June  24,  1916. 

Twenty-two  Years'  Work  of  the  Hampton  Normal 


and  Agricultural  Institute,  1 868-1 891  (Maps  and  illus- 
trations). Hampton  Institute.  A  record  of  graduates* 
work  compiled  by  members  of  the  staff,  with  historical 
introduction  by  S.  C.  Armstrong. 
Indian  Education.  Hampton's  Work  for  the  Indians,  by 
Caroline  W.  Andrus,  in  charge  of  Indian  Records  at 
Hampton.     Southern  Workman,  February  1915. 

Indian  Education  at  Hampton  and  Carlisle,  by  Helen 

W.  Ludlow.     Harper's  Monthly,  April  1881. 

Industrial  Education.  Domestic  Arts  at  Hampton  Institute,  by 
Caroline  D.  Pratt,  in  charge  of  Domestic  Arts  Department. 
Hampton  Leaflets,  Vol.  Ill,  No.  3  (1914). 

Hampton   Institute  Trade-School,  by  Wm.  Anthony 

Aery.     Hampton  Institute. 

Learning   by    Doing   (illustrated),   by   Albert   Shaw, 

editor    of   the    American    Review    of   Reviews.     American 
Review  of  Reviews,  April  1900. 

What  Hampton  Means  by  Education  (illustrated),  by 

Albert   Shaw,  editor  of  the  American  Review  of  Reviews. 
American  Review  of  Reviews y  September  1906. 

331 


APPENDIX  ONE 

Moton,  Robert  Russa.  Negro's  Uphill  Climb.  Ancestry  and 
Struggle  for  Education.  World's  Work,  April  1907.  Stu- 
dent Life  at  Hampton  Institute.     World's  Work,  May  1907. 

Racial  Good   Will  (1916).     Southern  Workman,  July 

1912,  July  1914,  October  1914. 

Negro  Education.  Negro  Education,  by  HoUis  Burke  Frissell, 
Principal  of  Hampton  Institute  (1893-1917),  Outlook, 
August  15,  1903. 

Negro  Education  (2  volumes),  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion, 1917,  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Thomas  Jesse  Jones. 
Exhaustive  study  of  Negro  schools  and  of  the  work  of 
important  Educational  Boards. 

Salvation  of  the  Negro,  The,  by  Booker  T.  Washing- 


ton, with  photographs  by  Frances  B.  Johnston.     World's 
Work,  July  1 90 1. 

Negro  in  the  Civil  War.     Among  the  Contrabands.     Reminis- 
cences of  W.  L.  Coan.     Southern  Workman,  April  1884. 

Army  Life  in  a  Black  Regiment  (1870),  by  T.  W. 

Higginson.     Lee  and  Shepard. 

Contrabands  at  Fort  Monroe,  by  E.  L.  Pierce.     At- 


lantic Monthly,  November  1861. 

Negro  Progress.     History  of  the  American  Negro,  by  Benjamin 
Brawley.     The  Macmillan  Company. 

Negro's  Progress,  The,  edited  by  J.  P.  Lichtenberger, 

American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  Phila- 
delphia. 

Negro  Year   Book   (current),  edited   by   Monroe  N. 


Work.     Tuskegee  Institute,  Alabama. 

Ogden,  Robert  C.  Early  Days  of  the  Ogden  Movement,  by 
J.  E.  Davis.  Southern  Workman,  November  191 5.  An 
account  of  the  conferences  leading  to  the  formation  of  the 
Southern  Education  Board. 

Educational  Statesman,  An,  by  Wm.  A.  Aery.  Sur- 
vey, October  30,  1915. 

332 


APPENDIX  ONE 

Ogden,  Robert  C.     In  Memory  of  Robert  Curtis  Ogden.     Pri- 
vately printed  by  H.  E.  Fries,  Winston-Salem,  N.C.  (1916.) 

Life  Well  Lived,  A.     In  Memory  of  Robert  Curtis 

Ogden.  Printed  by  Hampton  Institute  (1914).  Number 
of  copies  limited.  Contains  addresses  by  Francis  Green- 
wood Peabody,  William  Howard  Taft,  and  Samuel  Chiles 
Mitchell. 

Life  of  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  Biography,  by  E.  A.  Alder- 


man, President  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  The  Mac- 
millan  Co.,  191 1.  Gives  an  account  of  the  movement 
for  better  education  in  the  South  developed  through  the 
influence  of  Robert  C.  Ogden. 
Virginia  Peninsula.  Battles  and  Leaders  of  the  Civil  War. 
Operations  of  1861  about  Fort  Monroe.     Century  Co. 

Burning  of  Hampton,  The.     Harper's  Pictorial  His- 
tory of  the  Great  Rebellion.     Harper  Brothers,  1866. 

Burning  of  Hampton,  The.     Rebellion  Record,  Vol. 

II,  1862-68.     Putnam's. 

Military  Hospitals  of  the  Civil  War  (illustrated),  by 

John  S.  C.  Abbott.     Harper  s  Monthly^  August  1864. 

Round    About   Jamestown    (Map    and    illustrations) 


(1907),  by  J.  E.  Davis.     Apply  to  Hampton  Institute. 
Washington,  Booker  T.     Builder  of  a  Civilization,  by  Emmett 
Scott  and  Lyman  Beecher  Stowe.     Doubleday,  Page  and 
Company,  191 7. 

My   Larger   Education    (illustrated),    by   Booker  T. 

Washington.     Doubledaj',     Page    and    Company,     191 1. 
Continuation  of  "  Up  From  Slavery." 

Southern  Workman  Memorial  Number,  January  1916. 

Contains  appreciations  by  leading  Americans. 

Tuskegee    and    Its    People    (illustrated),    edited    by 

Booker  T.   Washington.      D.    Appleton    and    Company, 
1905. 

Up  From  Slavery  (illustrated),  by  Booker  T.  Wash- 

333 


APPENDIX  ONE 

ington.     Autobiography :  Doubleday,  Page  and  Company, 
1901. 

Note.  The  Southern  Workman  is  on  file  in  many  of  the  leading 
libraries  of  the  United  States.  Back  numbers  may  be 
applied  for  at  Hampton  Institute. 


334 


APPENDIX  TWO 

COUNTY   CHARTER 

Virginia  to  wit 

Circuit  Court  of  Elizabeth  City  County 
Sept.  2 1  St,  1868 

Upon  the  application  of  George  Whipple,  Edward  P.  Smith, 
William  E.  Whiting,  M.  E.  Strieby  and  S.  C.  Armstrong,  they 
and  such  other  persons  as  shall  hereafter  become  subscribers 
to  the  capital  stock  hereby  created,  are  hereby  declared  to  be  a 
body  politic  and  corporate  by  the  name  and  style  of  "  The 
Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute."  The  purpose 
for  which  the  said  charter  is  granted  is  the  instruction  and 
education  of  youth  in  the  various  common  school  branches  and 
the  best  method  of  teaching  the  same,  and  in  the  best  mode  of 
practical  industry  in  its  application  to  agriculture.  And  by 
the  name  and  style  of  The  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural 
Institute,  the  said  corporation  shall  have  all  the  rights,  powers 
and  privileges  conferred,  and  be  subject  to  all  the  rules,  regula- 
tions and  restrictions  imposed  by  the  laws  of  Virginia,  and  all 
acts  amendatory  thereof,  applicable  to  such  corporation. 

The  capital  stock  of  said  Company  to  be  not  less  than  twenty 
thousand  dollars  and  to  be  increased  as  the  wants  of  the  Com- 
pany may  require,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  The  said  capital  stock  to 
be  divided  into  shares  of  not  less  than  one  thousand  dollars 
each.  The  said  Company  to  hold  certain  real  estate  in  the 
County  of  Elizabeth  City,  formerly  known  as  "Little  Scot- 
land," now  called  Whipple  Farm,  located  on  Hampton  River 
and  containing,  by  estimation,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres, 

335 


APPENDIX  TWO 

together  with  all  the  improvements  which  may  have  been  or 
may  be  erected  thereon. 

Hampton,  in  the  County  of  Elizabeth  City,  State  of  Virginia, 
is  to  be  the  place  in  which  the  principal  office  of  said  Company 
is  to  be  kept.  The  officers  who  are  to  conduct  the  affairs  of 
said  Company  for  the  first  year  are : — 

George  Whipple,  President 

Edward  P.  Smith,  Vice  President 

S.  C.  Armstrong,  Secretary 

William  E.  Whiting,  Treasurer 

And  it  is  ordered  that  this  Charter  of  Incorporation  be  re- 
corded by  the  Clerk  of  this  Court  in  the  book  to  be  provided 
and  kept  for  the  purpose  and  that  the  same  be  certified  by  the 
said  Clerk  to  the  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth. 

And  it  is  further  ordered  that  this  Charter  of  Incorporation 
be  inoperative  until  the  same  shall  have  been  duly  certified  and 
lodged  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Clerk's  office  of  the  County  Court  of  Elizabeth  City  County, 
October  5th,  1868 

The  foregoing  certificate  of  the  Incorporation  received  and 
admitted  to  record  as  the  law  directs. 

Teste    Wm.  S.  Howard,  Clerk 
A  Copy         Teste    Wm.  S.  Howard,  Clerk 

AN  ACT 

to  incorporate 

THE  HAMPTON  NORMAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL 
INSTITUTE 

BY   the    general   ASSEMBLY   OF   THE    STATE    OF    VIRGINIA 
APPROVED   JUNE    4,    187O 

Whereas,  it  is  represented  to  the  general  assembly  that 
under  and  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  incorporation  granted  by  the 

336 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Circuit  Court  of  the  county  of  Elizabeth  City,  on  the  twenty- 
first  of  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  cer- 
tain property  located  in  the  county  of  Elizabeth  City,  in 
this  state,  formerly  known  as  "Little  Scotland,"  containing, 
by  estimation,  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres,  has  been  and  is 
now  used  as  an  institution  of  learning,  known  as  The  Hamp- 
ton Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute,  and  upon  this  prop- 
erty large  and  valuable  college  buildings  have  been  erected, 
and  the  same  have  been  provided  with  necessary  and  suit- 
able furniture,  apparatus,  and  equipments  as  a  seminary  of 
learning; 

I  Now  be  it  enacted  by  the  general  assembly  of  Vir- 
ginia, That  O.  O.  Howard,  George  Whipple,  M.  E.  Strieby, 
Jas.  A.  Garfield,  John  F.  Lewis,  E.  P.  Smith,  Robert  W. 
Hughes,  James  F.  B.  Marshall,  Alexander  Hyde,  B.  G. 
Northrop,  Samuel  Holmes,  Edgar  Ketchum,  W.  E.  Whiting, 
H.  C.  Percy,  S.  C.  Armstrong,  and  such  others  as  they  may 
associate  with  them,  and  their  successors,  be  and  are  hereby 
constituted  a  body  politic  and  corporate,  by  the  name  of  The 
Trustees  of  the  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Insti- 
tute, and  shall  have  perpetual  succession  and  a  common  seal, 
and  by  the  name  aforesaid,  they  and  their  successors  shall  be 
capable  in  law,  and  shall  have  full  power  and  authority  to 
acquire,  hold,  possess,  purchase,  receive,  and  retain  to  them 
and  their  successors  forever,  any  lands,  tenements,  rents, 
goods,  chattels  or  interest  of  any  kind  whatsoever,  which  may 
be  given  or  bequeathed  to  them,  or  be  by  them  purchased  for 
the  use  of  an  institution  of  learning,  to  be  called  The  Hampton 
Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute :  *  provided  the  real  estate 


*  Originally  this  read:  "provided  the  same  shall  not  exceed  eight 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  value."  Amended  May  2,  1887,  to  read  "pro- 
vided the  real  estate  does  not  exceed  eighteen  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
value."  Amended  as  above,  July  2,  1904,  by  the  State  Corporation  Com- 
mission. 

337 


APPENDIX  TWO 

owned  shall  not  exceed  at  any  one  time  twelve  hundred  acres ; 
they  and  their  successors  shall  have  power  to  transfer,  convey, 
and  dispose  of  the  same  in  any  manner  whatsoever  they  shall 
adjudge  most  useful  to  the  interest  and  legal  purposes  of  the 
said  institution :  and  by  their  corporate  name,  may  sue  and 
implead,  and  be  sued  and  impleaded,  may  answer  and  be 
answered,  in  all  courts  of  law  and  equity. 

2  That  the  purposes  of  the  said  Hampton  Normal  and 
Agricultural  Institute  shall  be  as  follows :  For  the  instruc- 
tion of  youth  in  the  various  common  school,  academic,  and  col- 
legiate branches,  the  best  methods  of  teaching  the  same,  and 
the  best  mode  of  practical  industry  in  its  application  to  agri- 
culture and  the  mechanic  arts ;  and  for  the  carrying  out  of  these 
purposes,  the  said  trustees  may  establish  any  departments 
or  schools  in  the  said  institution. 

3  That  the  trustees  or  a  majority  of  them,  shall  choose  by 
ballot,  a  president,  secretary,  treasurer,  and  such  officers, 
teachers,  or  agents  as  they  shall  deem  necessary,  and  remove 
the  same  at  pleasure,  two-thirds  of  a  quorum  concurring  in 
said  removal.  They  shall  also  take  bond  from  the  treasurer, 
payable  to  the  trustees  of  The  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricul- 
tural Institute,  in  such  penalty  and  with  such  security  as  they 
may  deem  reasonable,  and  conditioned  for  faithful  discharge 
of  the  duties  of  his  office,  said  duties  to  be  prescribed  by  the 
said  trustees  or  a  majority  of  them.  The  said  trustees  may 
make  contracts  in  behalf  of  said  institution,  and,  in  general, 
manage  the  affairs  of  the  institution. 

4  That  when  there  shall  be  a  vacancy  in  the  board  of 
trustees,  occasioned  by  death,  removal,  resignation,  or  refusal 
to  act,  the  remaining  trustees  or  a  majority  of  them,  shall,  on 
being  notified  by  the  secretary  or  president,  supply  the  va- 
cancy at  the  next  annual  meeting. 

It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  five  of  the  trustees  to  call  a  meeting 
of  the  trustees  whenever  they  shall  deem  it  expedient. 

338 


APPENDIX  TWO 

5  The  board  of  trustees  shall  be  not  less  than  nine  nor 
more  than  seventeen,  five  *  of  whom  shall  constitute  a  quorum. 

6  That  the  trustees  may  adopt  such  rules,  regulations, 
and  by-laws,  not  contrary  to  the  laws  of  this  State  or  the 
United  States,  as  they  may  deem  necessary  for  the  good 
government  of  the  Institution. 

7  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  board  of  trustees, 
whenever  requested  by  the  Governor  of  this  State,  or  super- 
intendent of  education,  to  make  a  report  of  the  general  condi- 
tion of  the  institution  to  the  board  of  education,  to  be  by  them 
communicated  to  the  general  assembly. 

8  That  all  the  rights,  privileges  and  properties  acquired 
by  the  said  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute, 
under  the  charter  of  incorporation  granted  by  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  county  of  Elizabeth  City,  on  the  twenty-first  day 
of  September,  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight,  be,  and  the 
same  are,  hereby  ratified  and  confirmed. 

9  That  from  and  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  the  char- 
ter of  the  said  Hampton  Normal  and  Agricultural  Institute, 
heretofore  granted  by  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  county  of 
Elizabeth  City,  save  so  far  as  ratified  by  the  preceding  section, 
is  hereby  revoked  and  annulled. 

10  That  any  property  held  by  The  Hampton  Normal 
and  Agricultural  Institute  for  its  legitimate  purposes,  shall  be 
exempt  from  public  taxes  so  long  as  any  property  held  by 
other  institutions  of  learning  in  Virginia,  for  their  legitimate 
purposes,  is  exempt;  and  whenever  a  tax  shall  be  laid  upon 
the  same,  if  laid  at  all,  the  tax  shall  not  be  higher  on  said 
institution,  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  its  property,  than 
on  other  institutions  of  learning  in  this  State. 

11  This  act  shall  be  in  force  from  the  passage  thereof. 

*  Originally  section  5  read:  "shall  not  be  less  than  nine  nor  more  than 
seventeen,  a  majority  of  whom  shall  constitute  a  quorum."  Change  approved 
February  27,  1894. 

339 


APPENDIX  TWO 

TRUSTEES 

OF 

THE  HAMPTON  NORMAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL 
INSTITUTE 

FROM  THE  ACT  OF  INCORPORATION,  JUNE  4,  187O,  TO  APRIL  I, 

I918 

Incorporators 

Oliver  Otis  Howard  (1870-75) 

b.  Leeds,  Me.,  Nov.  8,  1830;  d.  Oct.  26,  1909.  Bowdoin 
College  and  U.  S.  Military  Academy.  Major  Gen.  U.  S.  A. 
in  Civil  War.     Commissioner,  Freedmen's  Bureau. 

Rev.  George   Whipple,    D.D.  (1870-77)   '  President   of  the 
Board,  1870-77. 
b.  Albany,  N.  Y.,  June  4,  1805  ;  d.  Oct.  6,  1876.     Lane  Sem. 
and  Oberlin.       Prof,  of  mathematics  at  Oberlin.      Corr.  Sec. 
American  Missionary  Association,  1846-76. 

Rev.  Michael  E.  Strieby,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (1870-99)   President 
of  the  Board,  1877-84. 
b.  Columbiana,  O.,  Sept.  26, 181 5  ;  </.  Mar.  16, 1899.    Oberlin 
College    and    Sem.     Sec.    American    Missionary    Association, 
1864-99. 

James  Abram  Garfield  (1870-76) 

b.  Orange,  O.,  Nov.  19,  183 1;  d.  Elberon,  N.  J.,  Sept.  19, 
1 88 1.  Williams  College.  Maj.  Gen.  U.  S.  A.  in  Civil  War. 
President  of  U.  S.  1881. 

John  Francis  Lewis  (1870-76) 

b.  Port  Republic,  Va.,  Mar.  i,  1818;  d.  Sept.  2,  1895. 
Member  Virginia  Convention  in  1861.     U.  S.  Senator,  1870-75. 

340 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Rev.  Edward  Parmelee  Smith  (1870-76) 

b.  South  Britain,  Ct.,  June  3,  1827 ;  d.  Accra,  W.  Africa,  June 
15,  1876.  Yale  Univ.  and  Andover  Theol.  Sem.  Field  Sec. 
Amer.  Missionary  Ass'n.  U.  S.  Comm.  Indian  Affairs,  1873. 
Pres.,  Howard  Univ.,  1876. 

Robert  William  Hughes  (1870-99) 

b.  Powhatan  Co.,  Va.,  June  16,  1821 ;  d.  Abingdon,  Va.,  Dec. 
10,  1901.  Caldwell  Inst.,  Greensboro,  N.  C.  Lawyer.  Ed. 
Richmond  Examiner.  Served  in  Confed.  Army.  Commis- 
sioned by  Pres.  Grant,  Dist.  Judge  for  Eastern  Va. 

James  Fowle  Baldwin  Marshall  (1870-91) 

b.  Charlestown,  Mass.,  1818;  d.  Kendall  Green,  Mass.,  May 
6,  1 891.  Minister  to  England  from  Hawaii  in  1843.  Member, 
Hawaiian  Legislature.  Paymaster-General  of  Mass.  Troops  on 
staff  of  Gov.  Andrew  in  Civil  War.  Treas.,  Hampton  Insti- 
tute, 1869-84. 

Alexander  Hyde  (1870-81) 

^.  Lee,  Mass.,  Sept.  25,  1814;  ^.  Boston,  Mass.,  Jan.  11,1881. 
Williams  College.     Teacher. 

Rev.  Birdsey  Grant  Northrop,  LL.D.  (1870-74) 

b.  Kent,  Ct.,  July  18,  1817;  d.  Apr.  27,  1898.  Yale  Univ. 
and  Theol.  Sem. 

Samuel  Holmes  (1870-84) 

b.  Waterbury,  Ct.,  Nov.  30,  1824;  d.  Montclair,  N.  J., 
Dec.  9,  1897.  Manufacturer.  Member,  Exec.  Comm.,  Amer. 
Missionary  Ass'n.     Trustee,  Fisk  Univ. 

Edgar  Ketchum  (1870-81) 

b.  New  York  City,  1811;  d.  March  3,  1882.  Lawyer. 
Treas.  and  Member  Exec.  Comm.,  Amer.  Missionary  Ass'n, 
1865-79. 

341 


APPENDIX  TWO 

William  E.  Whiting  ''1870) 

d.  June  3,  1882.  An  Officer  of  Amer.  Missionary  Ass'n  from 
its  organization  in  1846  to  his  death. 

Henry  Clay  Percy  (1870-74)   • 

h.  New  Haven,  Ct.,  1839;  d.  New  York,  1887.  Banker. 
Organized  Freedmen's  Bank  and  Home  Savings  Bank,  Nor- 
folk, Va. 

Samuel  Chapman  Armstrong,  LL.D.  (1870-93) 

b.  Maui,  Hawaii,  Jan.  30,  1839;  d.  Hampton,  Va.,  May  11, 
1893.  Williams  College.  Commanded  Colored  Troops  in  Civil 
War.  Brig.-Gen.  U.  S.  A.  Founded  Hampton  Inst.  1868. 
Principal,  1868-93. 

Elected 

Rev.  Erastus  Milo  Cravath,  D.D.  (1870-77) 

b.  Homer,  N.  Y.,  July  i,  1833 ;  d.  Sept.  4,  1900.  Oberlin 
College.  Chaplain  in  Federal  Army  during  Civil  War.  District 
Sec.  Amer.  Missionary  Ass'n.     First  Pres.,  Fisk  Univ. 

Rev.  Thomas  Kendall  Fessenden  (1870-82) 

b.  Brattleboro,  Vt.,  Sept.  10,  1813  ;  d.  Farmington,  Ct.,  Jan. 
18,  1894.  Williams  College  and  Yale  Theol.  Sem.  Financial 
Sec,  Hampton  Inst.,  1871-77. 

Anthony  Morris  Kimber  (1870-86) 

b.  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  May  19,  1824;  d.  Sept.  20,  1917.  Haver- 
ford  College.     Merchant. 

Robert  Curtis  Ogden,  LL.D.  (1874-1913)  President  of  the 
Board,  1894-1913. 
b.  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  June  20,  1836;  d.  Aug.  6,  1913.  Mer- 
chant. Pres.,  Southern  Educ'n  Board ;  Chairman,  General 
Educ'n  Board ;  Trustee,  Tuskegee  Inst.  Pres.,  Board  of 
Directors,  Union  Theol.  Sem. 

342 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Lewis  Henry  Steiner,  M.D.  (1876-92) 

h.  Frederick  City,  Md.,  May  4,  1827;  d.  Feb.  18,  1892. 
Univ.  of  Penn.  Physician.  Librarian,  Enoch  Pratt  Free 
Library,  Baltimore,  Md. 

Zebulon  Stiles  Ely  (1876-86) 

h.  Lyme,  Ct.,  Nov.  8,  1819;  d.  Oct.  4,  1902.  Essex  Acad. 
Merchant. 

Elbert  Brinckerhoff  Monroe  (1877-94)    President  of  the 

Board,  1884-94 

h.  New  York  City,  Aug.  25,  1836;  d.  Apr.  21,  1894.  Univ. 
of  N.  Y.  Member,  Exec.  Comm.,  Amer.  Missionary  Ass'n. 
Member,  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  1892. 

Rev.  James  Howard  Means,  D.D.  (1877-83) 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  13,  1823  ;  d.  Apr.  13,  1894.  Harvard 
Univ.  and  Andover  Theol.  Sem.  Pastor,  Second  Cong'I  Ch., 
Dorchester,  Mass.,  for  30  yrs. 

Francis  Nathaniel  Watkins  (1877-86) 

b.  Prince  Edward  Co.,  Va.,  181 2;  d.  Sept.  1885.  Educated 
at  Amherst,  Mass.  Judge.  Banker.  Trustee,  Hampden- 
Sidney  College. 

Rev.  Albert  Nicholas  Arnold  (1877-81) 

b.  Cranston,  R.  I.,  Feb.  12,  1814;  d.  Oct.  11,  1883.  Brown 
Univ.     Missionary  to  Greece.     Prof,  of  Theology. 

Rev.  Henry  Wilder  Foote  (1879-89) 

b.  Salem,  Mass.,  June  2,  1838;  d.  May  30,  1889.  Harvard 
Univ.     Pastor,  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  Mass.,  1861-89. 

James  Muncaster  Brown  (1881-89) 

b.  Baltimore,  Md.,  Dec.  8,  1820;  d.  Manchester,  Vt., 
July  19,  1890.     Banker. 

343 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Charles  Levi  Mead  (1881-99) 

b.  Chesterfield,  N.  H.,  Jan.  21,  1833;  d.  Norfolk,  Ct.,  Aug. 
19,  1899.  Educated  at  Brattleboro,  Vt.  Pres.  and  Treas., 
Stanley  Rule  &  Level  Co.  Vice-Pres.,  Amer.  Missionary 
Ass'n. 

Moses  Pierce  (1883-89) 

d.  Norwich,  Ct.,  Aug.,  1900.  Manufacturer.  Built  Pierce 
Machine  Shop,  now  Pierce  Hall,  at  Hampton  Inst. 

Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D.  (1883-1914) 

b.  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  Dec.  14,  1830;  d.  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  Aug.  6,  1914.  Harvard  Univ.  and  Andover  Theol. 
Sem.     Vice-Pres.,  Amer.  Missionary  Ass'n. 

George  Foster  Peabody,  LL.D.  (1884-    ) 

b.  Columbus,  Ga.,  July  27,  1852.  Banker.  Trustee,  Tuske- 
gee  Inst.,  University  of  Georgia,  Colorado  College,  Skidmore 
School  of  Arts,  American  Church  Institute  for  Negroes,  etc. 
Treas.,  Invest.  Comm.  of  Hampton  Inst.  Member,  So.  Educ'n 
Board  and  Gen.  Educ'n  Board.  Deputy  Chairman  and  Gov- 
ernment Director,  Federal  Reserve  Bank,  N.  Y. 

Thomas  Tabb,  (i 886-1902) 

b.  Hampton,  Va.,  Oct.  7,  1835;  d.  Oct.  16,  1902.  Princeton 
Univ.     Officer  in  Confederate  Army.     Lawyer. 

Rev.  Charles  Henry  Parkhurst,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (1886-1905) 

b.  Framingham,  Mass.,  Apr.  17,  1842.  Amherst  College. 
Studied  Theology  at  Halle  and  Leipzig.  Clergyman  and  Social 
Worker,  N.  Y. 

Amzi  Dodd  (1886-96) 

b.  Bloomfield,  N.  J.,  March  2, 1823  ;  d.  Jan.  22, 1913.  Prince- 
ton Univ.  Judge.  Vice-Chancellor  of  N.  J.  Pres.,  Mutual 
Benefit  Life  Ins.  Co. 

344 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Rt.  Rev.  Wm.  Neilson  McVickar,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (i 886-1910) 
h.  New  York  City,  Oct.   19,  1843;   d.  June  28,  1910.     Co- 
lumbia Univ.  and  Gen.  Theol.  Sem.     Bishop  of  Rhode  Island. 

Albert  Keith  Smiley  (1889-1891) 

b.  Vassalboro,  Me.,  March  17,  1828;  d.  Dec.  1912. 
Haverford  College.  Teacher.  Member,  Board  of  Indian  Com- 
missioners. 

Francis  Greenwood  Peabody,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (1890-    )     First 
Vice-Pres.  of  the  Board. 
h.  Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  4,  1847.     Harvard  Univ.     Prof,  of 
Christian  Morals  at  Harvard,  1881-1913.     Dean  of  Harvard 
Divinity  School,  1901-1906. 

CoLLis  Potter  Huntington  (i 890-1900) 

b.  Harwinton,  Ct.,  Oct.  22,  1821 ;  d.  Aug.  13,  1900.  Or- 
ganizer of  Central  Pacific  R.  R. ;  planned  and  developed 
transcontinental  lines.  Contributed  largely  to  up-building  of 
Hampton  Inst. 

Rt.  Rev.  David  Hummell  Greer,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (1891-1909) 

b.  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  March  20,  1844.  Washington  College, 
Pa.  and  Prot.  Episc.  Sem.,  Gambier,  O.     Bishop  of  New  York. 

Charles  Emerson  Bigelow  (1892-    ) 

b.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  July  29,  1851.  Yale  Univ.  Pres.,  Bay 
State  Shoe  &  Leather  Co. ;  Pres.,  Columbia  Water  &  Light  Co. ; 
Director,  Southern  Improvement  Co. 

Rev.  Hollis  Burke  Frissell,  D.D.,  LL.D.  (1893-1917) 

b.  South  Amenia,  N.  Y.,  July  14,  1851 ;  d.  Whitefield,  N.  H., 
Aug.  5,  1917.  Yale  Univ.  and  Union  Theol.  Sem.  Chap- 
lain, Hampton  Inst.  1880-93;  Principal,  1893-1917.  Member, 
So.  Educ'n  Board,  Gen.  Educ'n  Board,  Negro  Rural  School 
Fund :  Anna  T.  Jeanes  Found. ;  Trustee,  Calhoun  Colored 
School,  Penn  School,  etc. 

345 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Arthur  Curtiss  James  (1893-    ) 

I    b.  New  York  City,  June  i,  1867.    Amherst  College.     Direc- 
tor and  Trustee,  various  corporations. 

Henry  Sturgis  Russell  (1894-98) 

b.  Boston,  Mass.,  1836;  d,  Feb.  1905.  Harvard  Univ. 
Colonel  U.  S.  A.  in  Civil  War. 

Wm.  Jay  Schieffelin,  Ph.D.  (1896-    ) 

b.  New  York  City,  Apr.  14,  1866.  Columbia  Univ.  and 
Univ.  of  Munich.  Chemist.  Served  in  Spanish-Amer.  War. 
Trustee,  Tuskegee  Inst. 

LUNSFORD   LOMAX    LeWIS    (1899-I917) 

b.  Rockingham  Co.,  Va.,  March  17,  1846.  Univ.  of  Vir- 
ginia. U.  S.  Dist.  Att'y,  Eastern  Va.  Pres.,  State  Supreme 
Court,  Va. 

Alexander  Purves  (1899-1905) 

b.  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  17,  1865;  d.  Hampton,  Va.,  March 
30,  1905.  Banker,  Fidelity  Trust  Co.  of  Philadelphia.  Treas., 
Hampton  Inst.,  1899-1905. 

William  West  Frazier  (1900-    ) 

b.  Montevideo,  Uruguay,  S.  A.,  Aug.  27,  1837.  Univ.  of 
Penn.     Capt.  U.  S.  A.  in  Civil  War.     Merchant. 

Rev.  James  Wesley  Cooper,  D.D.  (1900-16) 

b.  New  Haven,  Ct.,  Oct.  6,  1842;  d.  March  16,  1916.  Yale 
Univ.  and  Andover  Theol.  Sem.  Corr.  Sec.  and  Vice-Pres., 
Amer.  Missionary  Ass'n. 

Archer  Milton  Huntington,  Litt.  D.  (1901-10) 
b.  New  York  City,  March  10,  1870.     Author. 

Beverly  B.  Munford  (1903-10) 
b.  Richmond,  Va.,  1857;    d.  May  31,  1910.     William  and 

346 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Mary  College  and  Univ.  of  Va.     Lawyer.     Author  of  "Virgin- 
ia's Attitude  toward  Slavery  and  Secession." 

Seth  Low,  LL.D.  (1905-08) 

b.  Brooklyn,  N.Y.,  Jan.  18, 1850;  d.  Sept.  17, 1916.  Colum- 
bia Univ.  Pres.,  Columbia  Univ.  Mayor  of  Greater  N.  Y. 
Pres.,  Board  of  Trustees,  Tuskegee  Inst. 

Hugh  Henry  Hanna,  LL.D.  (1905-09) 

b.  Lafayette,  Ind.,  Sept.  19,  1848.  Educated  in  U.  S.  and 
Germany.  Banker  and  Publicist.  Member,  So.  Educ'n  Board, 
Gen.  Educ'n  Board.     Trustee,  Tuskegee  Inst. 

Frank  Wilkinson  Darling  (1909-    ) 

b.  New  York  City,  Oct.  7,  1865.  Cheshire  Episcopal  Inst. 
Merchant.  Treas.,  Indus.  Home  School  for  Colored  Girls. 
Appointed  by  Gov.,  Chairman  of  Moral  Welfare  Comm.  for 
Hampton  and  vicinity,  1917. 

William  Howard  Taft,  LL.D.   (1909-    )  President  of  the 
Board,  1914- 
b.  Cincinnati,  O.,  Sept.  15,  1857.     Yale  University,     Judge. 
President  of  U.  S.,  1909-13. 

Clarence  Hill  Kelsey  (1909-    )  Second  Vice-President  of 
the  Board. 
b.  Bridgeport,   Ct.,    Dec.    23,    1856.      Yale   Univ.    Lawyer. 
Pres.,  Title  Guarantee  &' Trust  Co.,  N.  Y. 

Samuel  Chiles  Mitchell,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.  (1911-    ) 

b.  CofFeeville,  Miss.,  Dec.  24,  1864.  Georgetown  College, 
Ky.  and  Univ.  of  Chicago.  Pres.,  Delaware  College.  Mem- 
ber, So.  Educ'n  Board,  Negro  Rural  School  Fund :  Anna  T. 
Jeanes  Foundation. 

Robert  Bacon,  LL.D.  (1913-    ) 
b.  Boston,  Mass.,    July  5,  i860.     Harvard  Univ.     Banker. 

347 


APPENDIX  TWO 

Asst.  Sec.  of  State,  1905-09.     Sec.  of  State,  1909.     Ambassador 
to  France,  1909-12.     Colonel  U.  S.  A. 

W.  Cameron  Forbes,  LL.D.  (1916-    ) 

b.  Milton,  Mass.,  May  21,  1870.  Harvard  Univ.  Banker. 
Member,  Philippine  Commission,  1904.  Governor-General, 
Philippine  Islands,  1909-13. 

Alexander  Buel  Trowbridge  (1916-    ) 

h.  Detroit,  Mich.,  Sept.  3,  1868.  Cornell  Univ.  Ecole  des 
Beaux  Arts,  Paris,  France.  Architect.  Pres.,  Brooklyn  Arm- 
strong Ass'n  and  National  Hampton  Ass'n. 

Rev.  Chester  Burge  Emerson  (1917-    ) 

b.  Haverhill,  Mass.,  July  29,  1882.  Union  College.  Clergy- 
man, Detroit,  Mich.     Army  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  France. 

Rev.  James  Edgar  Gregg  (1918-    ) 

b.  Hartford,  Ct.,  Nov.  24,  1875.  Harvard  College  and 
Harvard  and  Yale  Divinity  Schools.  Teacher  and  Clergyman. 
Elected  Principal  of  Hampton  Institute,  1918. 

Robert  Russa  Moton,  LL.D.  (191 8-    ) 

b.  Amelia  Co.,  Va.,  Aug.  26,  1867.  Hampton  Inst.  1890. 
Commandant,  Hampton  Inst.,  1 890-191 5.  Principal,  Tuskegee 
Inst.,  191 5.  Founder,  Negro  Organization  Soc.  Sec,  Negro 
Rural  School  Fund :  Anna  T.  Jeanes  Foundation. 

HAMPTON  CURATORS 

Appointed  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  their  terms   of  service 

*Rev,  W.  G.  Alexander,  Portsmouth 1886  to  1888 

*HoN.  Samuel  P.  Bolling,  Farmville 1893  to  1900 

Judge  John  Booker,  Hampton 1884  to  1886 

*Rev.  G.  F.  Bragg,  Jr.,  Norfolk 1888  to  1890 

*HoN.  Tazewell  Branch,  Farmville 1890  to  1892 

*William  p.  Burrell,  Richmond 1901  to  1909 

*J.  C.  Carter,  Houston 1901  to  1921 

*  Colored. 


APPENDIX  TWO 


Francis  F.  Causey,  Hampton      .... 

Judge  Isaac  H.  Christian,  Charles  City  . 
*J.  M.  Clark,  Danville 

W.  T.  CoPELAND,  Newport  News  .  .  . 
*Rev.  John  W.  Dawson,  Williamsburg  .     . 

Hon.  O.  M.  Dorman,  Norfolk 

Dr.  J.  B.  Halligan,  Smoky  Ordinary  .     . 

E.  S.  Hamlin,  Newport  News 

Jacob  Heffe^finger,  Hampton  .... 
*Rev.  James  H.  Holmes,  Richmond  .  .  . 
*W.  T.  Johnson,  Richmond 

Rev.  Dr.  J.  William  Jones,  Richmond     . 

Hon.  Maryus  Jones,  Newport  News    .     . 

Andrew  Kevan,  Petersburg 

Judge  Baker  P.  Lee,  Hampton  .... 

J.  T.  Lewis,  Richmond 

E.  B.  Macon,  London  Bridge 

Dr.  John  E.  Mapp,  Kellar 

*George  a.  Melvin,  Portsmouth  .... 

Rev.  Chas.  Minnegerode,  D.D.,  Richmond 

N.  W.  Nock,  Onancock . 

*HoN.  Frederick  S.  Norton,  Williamsburg 

Hon.  Robert  Norton,  Yorktown     .    .    . 

Gen.  R.  L.  Paige,  Norfolk 


*R.  G.  L.  Paige,  Norfolk 

*Rev.  CiBSAR  Perkins,  Buckingham  C.  H. 
Hon.  R.  B.  Poore,  Appomattox  C.  H.  . 

•William  M.  Reid,  Portsmouth     .     .     . 


Hon.  W.  H.  Ruffner,  Richmond      .... 

Henry  L.  Schmelz,  Hampton 

Thomas  M.  Scott,  Onancock 

Capt.  Arthur  S.  Segar,  Hampton  .... 

A.  T.  Stroud,  Norfolk 

CoL.  Thomas  Tabb,  Hampton 

•Rev.  William  Thornton,  Hampton  .  .  . 
•Richard  A.  Tucker,  Norfolk 

Hon.  John  J.  Woodhouse,  Princess  Anne  C.  H. 

•Colored. 


1899 

to 

1904 

1890 

to 

1904 

1909 

to 

1921 

I9I3 

to 

I92I 

1877 

to 

1882 

1873 

to 

1879 

1909 

to 

I9I3 

1882 

to 

1886 

1887 

to 

1890 

1873 

to 

1890 

I9I3 

to 

I92I 

1886 

to 

1888 

I90S 

to 

1909 

1876 

to 

1882 

1897 

to 

1899 

1909 

to 

I92I 

1882 

to 

1886 

1890 

to 

1897 

1900 

to 

I90S 

1888 

to 

1890 

I90I 

to 

1909 

1882 

to 

1886 

1890 

to 

1893 

1880 

to 

1882 

1886 

to 

1890 

1882 

to 

1886 

1873 

to 

1877 

1893 

to 

1897 

1893 

to 

I9CI 

1 90s 

to 

1909 

1873 

to 

1877 

1903 

to 

I9I4 

1897 

to 

1905 

1882 

to 

1884 

I9IS 

to 

1 921 

1873 

to 

1887 

1873 

to 

1893 

1893 

to 

19CI 

1890 

to 

1893 

349 


APPENDIX  THREE 


3SO 


APPENDIX 


THREE 


INDEX  TO  MAP  OF   HAMPTON   INSTITUTE 
GROUNDS  IN   1918 


I 

Virginia  Hall 

43 

Wigwam 

2 

Cleveland  Hall 

48 

Robert  C.  Ogden  Auditorium 

3 

Griggs  Hall 

49 

Palmer  Hall 

4 

"Uncle    Tom's    Cabin"     (The 

SO 

Marshall  Hall 

Chaplain's  Residence) 

51 

Memorial  Church 

5 

Girls'  Cottage 

55 

Academic  Hall 

7 

Laundry 

S6 

Science  Building 

9 

Winona  Lodge 

59 

Marquand  Cottage 

10 

"The  Moorings"  (Mrs.  Purves) 

60 

Domestic  Science  Building 

12 

Abby  May  Home 

61 

Clarke  Hall 

19 

Kennedy  Hall 

70 

Stone  Memorial  Building 

21 

Huntington  Memorial  Library 

76 

Gymnasium 

2."; 

Mansion  House  (The  Principal's 

87 

Greenhouse 

Residence) 

90 

Trade-School 

30 

Holly  Tree  Inn 

93 

Pierce  Hall 

37 

Barn 

99 

James  Hall 

42 

King's  Chapel  Hospital 

IS5 

Huntington  Hall 

351 


APPENDIX  THREE 


352 


APPENDIX  FOUR 

LIST  OF  BUILDINGS,  WITH  DATES  AND  COST 

1870     Academic    Hall.     Cost,    $48,500;    largely  defrayed    by 
funds  donated  by  the  Freedmen's  Bureau. 

1873  Griggs  Hall.     Named  in  memory  of  Mrs.  Stephen  Griggs. 

Cost,  $6300. 

1874  Virginia  Hall,  a  girls'  dormitory.     Partly  "sung  up"  by 

Hampton  Singers.     Cost,  $98,000. 
1876     Marquand  Cottage,  a  boys'  dormitory.     Original  cost, 
$5200;   with  additions,  $12,800. 

1878  Whipple  Barn.     Cost  $9200. 

1879  Wigwam,  for  Indian  boys.     Cost,  $14,700. 

1 88 1     Huntington     Industrial     Works.     Gift    of     Collis     P. 
Huntington.     Cost,  $16,700. 

1881  Second   Academic   Hall    (renamed  Schurz   Hall,  191 5). 

Built  to  replace  the  first,  destroyed  by  fire  in  1879. 
Cost,  $38,650. 

1882  Marshall  Hall.     Named  in  honor  of  General  J.  F.  B. 

Marshall.  Contains  Museum  and  offices.  Cost, 
$10,650. 
1882  Stone  Memorial  Building,  a  boys'  dormitory.  Gift  of 
Mrs.  Valeria  Stone,  of  Massachusetts,  in  memory  of 
her  husband,  Samuel  Stone.  Original  cost,  $27,- 
600;   with  additions,  $43,400. 

1882  Winona  Lodge,  for  Indian  girls.     Cost  $30,500. 

1883  Pierce  Hall.     Gift  of  Moses  Pierce  of  Norwich,  Conn. 

Original  cost,  as  Pierce  Machine  Shop,  $6000;    with 
reconstruction  for  dormitory,  $12,200. 

353 


APPENDIX  FOUR 

1884  Gymnasium.  Cost  of  original  building,  $7000.  Torn 
down  in  1903  and  its  materials  used  in  the  construction 
of  the  present  Gymnasium.  Cost,  $14,400;  with 
addition  (191 1)  $21,400. 

1884  Girls'  Cottage.  Original  cost,  $15,400;  with  improve- 
ments, $16,900. 

1884     Laundry.     Original  cost,  $8050;  with  additions,  $20,000. 

1886  King's  Chapel  Hospital  for  boys.  Gift  of  members  of 
King's  Chapel,  Boston.  In  memory  of  Mary  Foote. 
Original  cost,  $3700;   with  additions,  $4700. 

1886  Memorial  Church.  Gift  of  the  Frederick  D.  Marquand 
Estate,  through  Elbert  B.  Monroe,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  and  Mrs.  Monroe.     Cost,  $65,000. 

1887^  Whittier  School  Building.  Gift  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
McWilliams  of  Brooklyn  ;  named  for  John  G.  Whittier. 
Replaced  Butler  School.     Cost,  $16,700. 

1888  Holly  Tree  Inn.  Original  cost,  $1900;  with  additions, 
$19,300. 

1890  Science  Building.  Gift  of  Northern  friends.  Cost, 
$22,000. 

1890  Whittier  School  Building.  Destroyed  by  fire  March  i ;  re- 
opened November  24.     Cost,  with  additions,  $31,470. 

1890  Treasury  Building.  Contains  Treasurer's  Office  and  school 
guest-rooms.     Gift  of  Elbert  B.  Monroe.    Cost,  $7550. 

1894  Abby  May  Home.  Gift  of  Northern  friends  of  Miss 
Abby  May,  through  Miss  Emily  Austin.  Opened  for 
domestic-science  classes.     Cost,  $6150. 

1896  Armstrong-Slater  Memorial  Trade-School.  Part  of 
cost  defrayed  by  Morris  K.  Jesup  of  New  York. 
Original  cost,  $44,600;  with  second  story  (191 2)  and 
other  additions,  $114,500. 

1898  Domestic-Science  Building.  Houses  Agricultural  De- 
partment and  domestic-science  and  arts  classes.  Cost, 
$50,000. 

354 


APPENDIX  FOUR 

1901  Cleveland  Hall.  Addition  to  Virginia  Hall,  containing 
Chapel  and  dormitories.  Built  in  memory  of  Charles 
Dexter  Cleveland  of  Philadelphia.  Cost,  $59,450, 
partly  defrayed  by  some  of  his  former  pupils. 

1903  Peabody  Dairy  Barn   at  Shellbanks.      Gift  of  George 

Foster  Peabody  of  New  York.     Cost,  $9500. 

1904  Huntington  Memorial  Library.     Gift  of  Mrs.  Collis  P. 

Huntington,  as  a  memorial  to  her  husband,  a  former 

trustee.     Cost,  $85,000. 
1904     Shellbanks     Dormitory    and    School    Building.     Cost, 

$28,150. 
1904     Floral    Greenhouses    (2).     Original    cost,    $9700;     with 

additions,  $12,320. 
1904     Huntington  Hall,  boys*  dormitory.     Reconstruction  of 

part    of   the    Huntington    Industrial    Works.     Cost, 

$13,700. 
1904     Students'  Kitchen.     Cost,  $20,000. 

1906  Whipple  Farm  Horse  and  Dairy  Barn.     Cost,  $32,440. 

1907  Carnegie  Stock  Barn  at  Shellbanks.     1907,  Rear  Wing, 

$11,000;    1913-14,  Main  Building,  $17,700. 

191 3  Clarke  Hall,  for  the  activities  of  Y.  M.  C.  A.     Gift  of 

Mrs.  Delia  S.  Clarke,  of  New  York,  in  memory  of  her 
husband,  Charles  Spears  Clarke.     Cost,  $27,600. 

1914  James  Hall,  a  boys'  dormitory.     Gift  of  Mrs.  D.  Willis 

James  in  memory  of  her  husband.     Cost,  $90,600. 

1918  Palmer  Hall.  In  memory  of  General  William  Jackson 
Palmer.  Cost  (estimated),  $65,000.  Palmer  and 
Marshall  Halls  form  the  Administration  Building. 

191 8  Robert  C.  Ogden  Auditorium.  Memorial  to  Robert 
Curtis  Ogden,  for  many  years  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees.     Cost  (estimated),  $200,000. 

191 8  John  S.  Kennedy  Dormitories  (2)  for  Girls  (one  in  pro- 
cess of  construction).  Gift  of  Mrs.  Kennedy. 
Cost  (original  estimate),  $100,000. 

355 


APPENDIX  FIVE 


GIFTS  FOR,   AND 


(Early  years,  1868  to  1873,  incomplete) 


Fixed  Equip- 

Year 

Buildings 

Land 

ment  AND  Unre- 
stricted 

Totals 

1868-73 



$28,500.00 



$      28,500.00 

1874 

$      20,966.72 

— 

— 

20,966.72, 

1875 

30,381.56 

— 

— 

30,381.56 

1876 

2,17597 

— 

— 

2,175-97 

1877 

6,708.11 

— 

— 

6,708.11 

1878 

2,500.00 

— 

— 

2,500.00 

1879 

14,132.92 

5,000.00 

— 

19,132.92 

1880 

13,658.00 

1,000.00 

— 

14,658.00 

1881 

62,733-75 

4,000.00 

— 

66,733.75 

1882 

23,233-97 

1,564.64 

$16,295.00 

41,093.61 

1883 

29,407.21 

2,500.00 

— - 

31,907.21 

1884 

6,897.33 

— 

— 

6,897.33 

188s 

13,109.67 

— 

800.00 

13,909-67 

1886 

69,858.60 

— 

2,100.00 

71,958.60 

1887 

— 

— 

14,195.00 

14,195.00 

1888 

15,157-55 

— 

8,700.00 

23,857-SS 

1889 

4,638.00 

— 

— 

4,638.00 

1890 

9,489.56 

— 

5,651-83 

15,141.39 

1891 

28,084.78 

— 

28,084.78 

1892 

732.65 

— 

— 

732.65 

1893 

5,493-93 

— 

325-00 

5,818.93 

1894 

25,742.50 

1,500.00 

2,596.87 

29,839-37 

189s 

5,000.00 

— 

225.50 

5,225-50 

1896 

16,039.50 

— 

16,039.50 

1897 

46,272.03 

— 

— 

46,272.03 

1898 

73,462.00 

— 

— 

73,462.00 

1899 

21,309.60 

15,150.00 

— 

36,459.60 

1900 

15,996.48 

— 

— 

15,996.48 

1901 

21,550.00 

— 

500.00 

22,050.00 

1902 

2,030.00 

— 

10,000.00 

12,030.00 

1903 

36,150.00 

— 

2,250.00 

38,400.00 

1904 

120,000.00 

— 

21,000.00 

141,000.00 

1 90s 

21,500.00 

— 

18,000.00 

39,500.00 

1906 

18,000.00 

— 

1,143.04 

19,14304 

1907 

50,500.00 

— 

— 

50,500.00 

1908 

12,500.00 

— 

18,500.00 

31,000.00 

1909 

3,900.00 

— 

17,000.00 

20,900.00 

1910 

3,000.00 

— 

7,000.00 

10,000.00 

1911 

35,562.42 

— 

— 

35,562.42 

1912 

— 

2,500.00 

21,000.00 

23,500.00 

1913 

25,000.00 

— 

18,500.00 

43,500.00 

1914 

25,000.00 

— 

16,000.00 

41,000.00 

1915 

30,000.00 

— 

16,000.00 

46,000.00 

1916 

50,000.00 

— 

16,200.00 

66,200.00 

1917 

140,000.00 

500.00 

16,200.00 

156,700.00 

$1,157,874-81 

$62,214.64 

$250,182.24 

$1,470,271.69 

Note 
excess 


■E :   Deficiency  of  income  for  fjermanent  improvements  and  land  provided  from 
of  income  for  current  expenses,  sale  of  land,  etc. 


APPENDIX  FIVE 


COST  OF  PLANT 


(Early  years,  1868  to  1871,  incomplete) 


Year 

Buildings 

Land  and 
Land  Imwiove- 

UENTS 

Fixed  Equip- 

HENT 

Totals 

1868-71 

$    56,620.01 

$    19,000.00 

— 

$     75,620.01 

1872 

— 



— 

— 

1873 

14,924.94 

10,710.00 

— 

25,634.94 

1874 

48,951-84 



— 

48,951-84 

187s 

24,156.65 



— 

24,156.65 

1876 

1 1,407  07 

3,587-49 

— • 

14,994.56 

J877 

7,570.01 

1,133-30 

— 

8,703-31 

1878 

8,095-78 



$     1,120.23 

9,216.01 

1879 

21,277.91 

5,176.90 

91-75 

26,546.56 

1880 

16,455.18 

1,000.00 

2,150.73 

19,605.91 

1881 

58,434-83 

4,000.00 

6,435-47 

68,870.30 

1882 

54.329-15 

1,000.00 

12,146.33 

67,475-48 

X883 

19.431-79 

2,500.00 

55456 

22,486.3s 

1884 

18,534.26 



1,463-36 

19,997-62 

1885 

20,370.05 

1.397-36 

555-28 

22,322.69 

1886 

76,434.96 

345-39 

1,902.90 

78,683.2s 

1887 

6,006.72 

— 

21,419.05 

27.425-77 

x888 

17.232.37 

465-00 

.8,660.25 

26,357.62 

1889 

13.297-85 

— 

5.570.36 

18,868.21 

1890 

16,097-93 

— 

1,562.66 

17,660.59 

1891 

17,846.20 

—  ■ 

5.787-30 

23,633-50 

1893 

6,030.91 

1,915.00 

4,699.32 

12.645-23 

1893 

6,079.17 

— 

5,59916 

11.678-33 

1894 

2,415.76 

2,000.00 

2,606.04 

7.021.80 

189s 

250.00 

2,000.00 

5,102.41 

7.352-41 

1896 

757-43 

350.00 

3,398.31 

4.505-74 

1897 

50,93 1  19 

I.43S-I6 

6,144.41 

58,510.76 

1898 

53.561-58 

300.00 

15,219.78 

69,081.36 

1899 

7,621.37 

13,450.00 

6,584.14 

27.655-51 

1900 

46,607.13 

2,500.00 

1,794.69 

50,901.82 

1901 

28,808.25 

3.75S-00 

1,128.29 

33,691.54 

1902 

3.049-78 

1,000.00 

3,430.52 

7,480.30 

1903 

34,950.22 

1,000.00 

19,746.72 

55,696.94 

1904 

139,102.59 

— 

42,750.07 

181,852.66 

190s 

49,816.24 

— 

33,863.92 

83,680.16 

1906 

57,061.83 

1,650.00 

9,242.66 

67.954-49 

1907 

40,928.61 

13.857-50 

3,657-37 

58,443.48 

1908 

23,378.08 

19,991.88 

1,498.34 

44,868.30 

1909 

21,859.80 

1,750.00 

2,37342 

25,983.22 

19 10 

49.332.84 

— 

1,411.40 

50,744-24 

Z911 

36,051.63 

875-89 

1,948.79 

38,876.31 

1912 

32,723.03 

15,800.00 

31,265.62 

79.788.65 

1913 

31.S42-10 

1,948.48 

11,237.80 

44,728.38 

1914 

26,705-39 

14,036.60 

2,943-91 

43,685.90 

191S 

43,192-56 

2,119.77 

4.043-79 

49.356.12 

1916 

53,928.44 

3,89504 

12,128.69 

69,952.17 

1917 

150,911.30 

36,573-70 

34,189.19 

221,674.19 

Totals 

$1,525,072.73 

$192,519.46 

$337,428.99 

$2,055,021.18 

357 


APPENDIX  SIX 


1 

V^N    roTj-to^o    t^OO    00    "    N    ^'>■^^u^vo    t^OO    OnO    >->    N    t^ 

1    t^t>^t^t^t^t~.t^i^oooooooooooooooooooo   c^a^c^c^ 
^ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooc»cooooooo 

> 

^M»-1>1M1-11-1I-IW1-1>H1-1MW>-1I-1>-I1-1W|-.1-I»<M 

00    0    -^u^NvO    ioc«^0    0    ►I    OVO    0    ►-    ►-    OQvN    O-^uiN 

Hi 

8 

t^vo    IT)  06    t^  On  r^    tA  d    lA^O    i-<dr^rndoC)dNON-^MC> 

00    w-iCTvO"    r>--«l-rOThN    Tj-\0    0    irim->!t-iriir)-«J-cr)ir^u-)c^ 

N     ■«*-r^00     l^r^OOOOO     p-c     000     OvroO     r<-iO00     M     Tf-\0     w     10 

hi    i-ioo    •'l-Ooo    lor^o    to'*cn"-iOO    On\0    ut)  r^  1-0  t>.  r»    r)  00 

td                                                                                         «  « 

loi/icnO    >-<    ■^■«*-ioOO^    •>*-r<^t-^>0    <^u^-*N    -*fomOO    O 

0\uitJ-\0    OnOO    0^    mc»    t<it^r^r<iQ    QnQVOOO    ►-    11    rr,M 
1-1    mt^N^O    >-    HI    000    roMVO    c»    0    0^    0    u^c<-l^^^^^^•-c 

■1r*^"*^1'^^"°^  ^^  '-L  '^  '^  '^°^*^'^  "^  '^^'^°^ 

voior^d\ootCirioohr>^ds>^ONr^-^d">^oorrtooot^vo 

m"-!    ■<l-tor<^c«^rom'<l-'^-+iJivr)»Jll^OO    l^t^OO    >-<    O    ->    -1 

tfl. 

hI 

?  ij 

.2g 

d  d  CNc>c><~nc>4-'4-c^^cfNd\cf»dNcfvo>CTNNvo  c> 

■T}"f*^corou^Loc*-it-t    Tt-t«^Tj-r*^r*^mc*^mmc*-iVO    Oco 

t^dd'dd'dd'i^t^d"dd"ddoddd  lovd 

tA                                 «               «               w      w      «                                                                                           « 

S 

"1  0^    r^   "    -^^    (JiON0000r^m«OQ-*Om  uTO 

H 

\6   K.06    ■>j-t^gN'->    tJ-oovo    toi^oo    -"i-t^rnoo    ■'t-dvd    4-n 
N'-irri00mv6v0Qr»V0rnr«r»iJ^v0OmV0'^-»J-00t^ 

M      HH      ll      r)      cr^fr^^^^^^^rn-"*-    M-^    VO    00      ON    "    ^ 

o2 

tfl.                                                                                                                           «    « 

S 

q  q  0   q  i^ovq  r<  <~ioo  q  ^^  '<^^"^"*^  '0*>9 

M 

«^^  d  doo  i-^d  d  d  t^MD  c-^d  >-<  do6  uovd  vAit^r^ 

00    "1    0>>^-*OOVOVD    0^<J^^v1^^■^^0    1-iOOVOvO    I-"    i/^OO 
Lo-»t-tnt^r<    OsN    ►-    0*>0    0    0    >-ooooo    0    N    i-oc<il^io 

!5 :5 

>-ii-ii-ip»t«^f-«MvO^VOOi-i'J^^ONOOOOt^u-)Nc^ 

vs. 

iriO    -"l-OO    N    ^^■«^VO    m^>-)■«^-K^^^mO^>^O^Q^•«^vO    i^^OO    wi 

00  uooo  0  u^o  N  irioo  -^o  >-or-^i^t^o  r^q  f^^  q  i^q^ 

^§ 

«  q  on"^  i-i  m  ovoo  i^t---^o  t^«^t>.^  0  r~-M  u-io>m 

55 

Sh 

■^0    1^0    "^io-«i--^N    rOThO^l^oo    Tj-w^ro"-!    I^O    O    ^J-t  O^ 

VO    u^^O  ^    rh  N  00    >->    loVO    r<^  m  r<^  >-i    uo  Ov  >-'    M-^    l~».  r<^  t->.  On 

roi-iNi-ih"!-!           i-ii-i>-iHHr<NMt<-)r<ir'ir^  c^  \0    i-ri  "i  tJ- 

■w. 

„ 

M 

f^M    ro-*"ivO    1^00    OvO    "-I    N    m'»l-ty^V0    t^oo    00    •-'    M    fn 

S 

00  r^t^i-^r^t^t^t^i^oooooooooooooooooooo  onO^o^o^ 

v£oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 

QQMMHI-IHHI-ll-ll-IMhHMI-lt-IMMMHMMI-IM 

358 


APPENDIX  SIX 


'"*■  tovo 

r^  00 

ov 

O     ►1     C<     COTj-ty-)\0     t^OO 

g.O^ 

Cl 

CO 

-+ 

tovo 

t^ 

1 

o  o 

Ov 

ov  OV 

O 

OQOOOOOO 

O^  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov 

o 

H-l 

hH 

00    00 

00 

00    00 

00 

o 

ON    0\    On 

OV 

On 

Ov 

Ov    On 

On 

O    00 

c* 

vo    -• 

to 

VO    Ov'*-«froc<>    p»    « 

q   -^vo  p;  00   q   q   q 

t 

•>hvo    1^ 

^ 

On 

^ 

CO    CO 

t-» 

•* 

■* 

T^oo 

M 

qv  to  tovp 

ThVO 

Ov  to 

CS 

Ov 

d  r^ 

uri 

CO  O 

00 

d    O^cod    dvoo    rovd 

4- 

tovd  d 

to 

d 

tOOO     Tl- 

^ 

CO 

t^  f^vo 

vo 

tv.toN   r-~c<oovovo 

00 

r~.vo  CO 

NO 

■<i- 

tOOO     O 

•^ 

■* 

•«1-    M 

»-4 

N     ■* 

-<1- 

OVO    lOTj-ioOO    toco 

vo 

vo    tnvo 

r) 

CO  00 

CO  O 

t^ 

to 

1--.VO 

o 

xt-OO 

VO 

■^copj    t^>-i\ovO    i-H 

vd 

t-^  lovo 

t^ 

-*■ 

t^ 

cT  00 

HH 

ON 

o>  O 

^<^ 

C<      ►" 

CO 

loiovovo    ^-.O^Ovc^ 

f4 

p)    p»    ■'l- 
c<    p»    N 

1^00 

00 

«    ov 
CO   c< 

to 

On 

N     "* 

CO 

vd" 

■«a 

irtcc 

lo 

N      CO 

^ 

t~^lO>-i     0^^^l-l     OvM- 

■<^VO    CO  o 

VO 

00 

^ 

OvVO 

»^ 

o 

O    t^O 

Ov  lo 

^ 

ts.«  q  (>i-^-fq\t-^oq 

«    Ov  O 

CO 

t-v 

CO 

t~v   c^ 

CO 

o 

O  00 

O 

vd  « 

K- 

d\  d  ■*  "o  t^vd  00  00 

r<vOOv>-<>-<NVOO 

-+ 

d  -"i-  6^^ 

On 

^ 

«  vd 

d 

vd 

■<*■ 

t-^oo 

to 

vo 

to   On    CO 

CO  00 

O  00 

On 

On 

Tl-  r^ 

qv 

O  00 

VO 

►H     uoi-1     coOOO     lOOO 

to 

P«      to    CO 

c^ 

CO 

■^ 

lovo 

C^ 

^g^ 

00 

CO    CO 

vd" 

00      cTcOH"      ■"t'lOCO-* 

k; 

tC  hT  cT 

00 

■<? 

HN 

■<f  ci 

CO 

1-^ 

iM 

P»     M 

CO 

•«i-vo  t^oo  00  o>  "   o 

CO 

c<    to  to 

t^oo 

On 

O    " 

O 

t^ 

HH       IM 

►,»,Mw««MN 

N 

C^      M      P< 

M 

c< 

N 

CO    CO 

CO 

t1- 

vd" 

^q 

vo 

v5  q 

vo 

CO 

Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov  Ov 

VO^VOVOVOVO^VO 

vo 

CO 

CO   On  vo 
O  vo    CO 

O 

O 

C< 

q 

O    O 

O 

l-< 

c<  vo 

dv 

r<  vd 

d\ 

pic<c<c<p5c^c^ri 

d>vd  r<  d\vd 

vd 

^  \D  ^ 

vd 

00 

^.? 

N 

"^  2^ 

p) 

vO^vovovovovovo 

c< 

OV  vo    M 

On 

ov 

On 

On   On 

8^ 

vo 

r<-i 

vo    Ov 

CO 

vovovovovovovovo 

CO 

Ov VO    CO 

On 

On 

On 

Ov   On 

N 

VO  O 

1^ 

t^  t^oo 

oooooooooooooooo 

o 

HH       CO     tOVO 

VO 

vd" 

vd"vc 

vd" 

to 

C<    c^    cs 

VJi 

O  O 

to 

Ov  Ti- 

ov 

OvOO    O  00    N    ■<ij-  N    uo 

to 

f<     OVOO 

CO 

8^ 

tj^ 

CO  Ov 

O 

^ 

r»^  r«. 

■<*• 

to  o 

00 

i-^vooooovo    rl    coto 

q 

CO  to  O 

CO 

«-»    <-i 

On 

CO 

"*  *i 

6 

<>  to 

^ 

vd  CO  6s\6  >-;  -4-  CO  d 

CO 

>-H  00  dv 

dN 

tJ- 

t^ 

t^  t^ 

J~^ 

CO 

00     Th 

lO 

■^^  CO 

cor«    -^r^    lot^u^to 

1^ 

O     Q     On 

-f  v5  v2 

CO 

VO 

00 

^  Th 

Ov 

to 

►"  t^ 

•«*■ 

►1  r^. 

<> 

CONM    r*^f^HH     cot^O 

CO 

CO  00 

On 

Ov  Ov 

-*; 

c< 

00    o 

O 

M     to 

« 

toroOOtoNQO^ 
CO  ■<*•  to  t/^  uo  tovo  vO 

-if 

OnVO    CO 

fi 

c^ 

ri 

w     T? 

dv 

vo 

M4       ►H 

N 

r»    N 

CO 

t^ 

r^oo  o 

i-t 

r< 

c» 

PJ   c» 

c^ 

^ 

^ 

N       « 

8 

o<  00 

00 

l^-^OvQ    tor<vO    CO 
CO  cooq    o>  tv.  >-<    pj  00 

00 

O    On  to 

i_i 

On 

!>. 

11     CO 

t-. 

r>. 

N     N 

00     CO 

r* 

0\ob   t^   •&■ 

CO  00 

vq 

covq 

t^ 

o 

vd   f^ 

to 

CO  r^  00 

rod    covdoo    coK-dv 

6 

"    O  VO 

-i- 

■«h 

CO 

00     tJ- 

ci 

■* 

00    CO 

00    0 

vo   00 

Ov<-»    tj-,p»    iot^-«J-t-^ 

CO 

r>  00    M 

00 

On 

►H     00 

■«*• 

00 

O 

"t  " 

r) 

loty^t^too  o  o  r^ 

rj^ 

PJ_    On    •- 

1 

c^ 

00 

O 

00 

p»    m 

VO 

t^    CO 

CO 

•<f  vd"   CO  cT   -^  N    -.?  « 

■4^ 

rf  to  to  00 

s 

6 

O    to 

tC 

vd" 

m  r-^ 

ro 

CO    CO 

CO 

CO    CO    CO    CO    CO    CO    CO    CO 

CO 

CO 

CO 

Th 

■<h  ■* 

T*- 

•5. 

■*  -"l-vO 

iCg^ 

00 

N-«*-CON«VOc^tv. 
to-^rvo    t^l^col^vo 

lO 

«  VO    >- 

O 

00 

f^ 

CO  rl 

00 

^ 

t-vOO 

00 

oq 

-* 

q  CO  •-< 

On 

t^ 

1 

p)    -.J-vq 

1^ 

pi    rj 

t^ 

d  CO 
5  "S 

<> 

l^cot^Ovcivd    uoto 
coiop)    OvTh«-i    O    i-c 

u 

«      CO    tJ- 

vd 

4 

CO 

d  00 

CO 

8v 

t~»  vo 

•^ 

CO 

CO 

ro   TfOO 

v5 

On 

1^ 

^^ 

to 

VO    to 

f* 

00      0^ 

1^ 

toc^    '(J-ro*-*    l*^»-t    CO 

vO_ 

NO      CO     « 

^ 

VO 

r^ 

t^ 

t^  0\ 

to 

t^vo 

C< 

0^•*0    O^vo    c<    0    trioo 

CO  to  00 

8 

to 

8 

to  to 

§ 

00 

■<f    CO 

•<^ 

■*  ■<1- 

to 

lovO    tx.  t»»  »>»  On   O  00 

O 

On    O    00 

ov 

n      t^ 

00 

I-H 

vo 

:t  ic 

1 

rv.00 

00 

Q    "    c<    Srp*"'^^?    1^00 

On    On    On 

r« 

CO 

■<»■ 

lOVO 

t^  — 

0>  Ov 
00   00 

€€ 

cS  cS  Ov  Ov  cS  cS  o^  o^ 

a 

o> 

On 

On 

On   Ov 

2^  ^ 

H 

359 


APPENDIX 


SEVEN 


INCREASE   OF    ENDOWMENT   BY   YEARS 


Year  Annual  Additions 

Year  Annual  Additions 

Year  Annual  Additions 

1872-76 

^52.369.37 

1891 

t>     3,153-75 

1906 

t>  98,325.3s 

1877 

8,025.00 

1892 

148,524.26 

1907 

89,468.24 

1878 

5,425-00 

1893 

21,641.25 

1908 

182,245.36 

1879 

2,000.00 

1894 

11,583.80. 

1909 

103,380.99 

1880 

2,020.00 

1895 

44,865.9s 

1910 

469,970.36 

1881 

3,057.00 

1896 

35,492.91 

1911 

I28,i8«.88 

1882 

2,325.00 

1897 

40,649.83 

1912 

160,599.66 

1883 

16,629.16 

1898 

208,132.18 

1913 

72,159.69 

1884 

4,603.25 

1899 

18,041.13 

1914 

63,337-17 

1885 

3,505-19 

1900 

163,189.24 

1915 

122,821.46 

1886 

9,810.90 

1901 

38,045.73 

1916 

46,576.10 

1887 

36,182.75 

1902 

127,685.00 

1917 

196,586.41 

1888 

11,987.90 

1903 

77,273.38 

1889 

24,639-57 

1904 

57,409.41 

Total 

$3,064,092.30 

1890 

11,736.03 

1905 

140,428.69 

SUMMARY  OF  ENDOWMENT  FUNDS 

June  30,  1917 

General  Endowment       $2,515,495.42 

Permanent  Scholarship  Funds  (see  pages  380-381)  .     .  315,203.38 

The  Carl  Schurz  Endowment  Fund       15,000.00 

The  Andrew  Memorial  Endowment  Fund      ....  45,000.00 

The  Bishop  McVickar  Fund 11,220.00 

The  Morris  K.  Jesup  Fund 25,000.00 

The  Russell  Sage  Fund 25,000.00 

Anonymous        Io,ooo.oo 

The  Phelps-Stokes  Fund 2,000.00 

The  Charles  D.  Presho  Fund 4,862.67 

The  Library  Endowment  Fund 1,200.00 


360 


APPENDIX  SEVEN 

The  Julia  P.  Marquand  Fund $11,000.00 

The  Robert  R.  Proudfit  Fund 25.00 

The  George  Law  Fund         5,000.00 

The  J.  S.  W.  Fund 1,000.00 

The  Eli  Whitney  Blake  Museum  Endowment  Fund    .  5,000.00 

The  Edna  Dow  Cheney  Fund 6,685.83 

The  Isaphene  Hillhouse  Fund 5,000.00 

The  Alexander  Moss  White  Fund 50,000.00 

The  William  W.  Smith  Fund 5,000.00 

The  Moses  Kimball  Fund        5,000.00 

The  Harriet  Rose  Lee  Fund 400.00 

$3,064,092.30 

The  Retirement  Fund $23,531.94 


361 


APPENDIX 


EIGHT 


CHART  SHOWING  INCREASE  IN  ENDOWMENT 


4000,000 

3300.000 

31000.000 

^  2J500.000 
o 
^.^000, 000 

r> 

i  1.500.000 

1000.000 

S00.0O0 

0 


'&  71  7i  75  '77  73  '«l  '63  '85  O  'SS  'SI '«  "as  97  "99  "01  K»  "OS  W  '03  '11  'O  "K  l9lT 
YEARS 

Increase  in  Endowment 


362 


APPENDIX  NINE 


to 

s 
? 

p 

s 

(0 

s 

■ 

e 

^ 

— — 

y 

V 

' 

^ 

V 

\ 

1 

k 

*^ 

»^ 

"^Si' 

c 

*<^ 

■«^ 

V. 

S 

L 

\ 

> 

'v 

s.\ 

\ 

\ 

'•* 

IV. 

fe 

^S 

u 

\^ 

]£ 

/; 

V 

1 

"^ 

i5 

p* 

^ 

X 

k 

•^ 

Y 

^ 

1 

\ 

, 

r.. 

\,*' 

\ 

L 

Ok 

V 

. 

1 

' 

i\ 

y 

/ 

N 

rv 

^^ 

Vs 

^ 

^ 

■•« — 

i   ' 

>  c 

>  c 

>  c 
*     c 

r- 

1         M 

>  e 

>  c 

>  c 
>"       c 

>  c 

>  c 
>'      c 

>       c 

1   ^ 

>       c 

>  c 

>  c 

>  c 
>■      c 

1      e 

>  c 

>  c 

>  c 

)      e 

>  c 

>  c 
i     c 

>  « 

1         s 

1       c 
>       ^ 

>  c 

>  c 

;  1 

>  c 

>  c 

>  c 
>'      c 

t       c 

>      e 

!     c 

>    t 

>      c 

< 


363 


APPENDIX  TEN 

CHANGES  IN  CURRICULUM 

1869  Entrance    requirements — "Sound     health,     good 

character,  age  not  less  than  fourteen  or  over 
twenty-five,  ability  to  read  well  and  write  in- 
telligibly ;  knowledge  of  arithmetic  through  long 
division ;  intention  to  remain  through  the  whole 
course  of  three  years,  and  to  become  a  teacher." 

1870  The  catalogue  for  1870  gives  the  course  of  study 

as  follows : — 
Junior  Class 
Mathematics 

Arithmetic,  long  division  to  percentage 
Language 

Spelling,  reading,  English  grammar,  sentence- 
making 
Natural  Science 

Geography,  natural  history 

Middle  Class  ,  , 

Mathematics 

Arithmetic  completed,  bookkeeping 
Language 

Spelling,     reading,     English     grammar    with 
analysis  of  sentences 
Natural  Science 

Physical  geography,  natural  philosophy,  out- 
lines of  astronomy 
History 

History  of  United  States 

364 


APPENDIX  TEN 

Senior  Class 
Mathematics 

Algebra,  geometry 
Language 

Spelling,  reading,  rhetoric,  composition 
Natural  Science 

Physiology,  botany 
History 

,  I"    Universal  history ;  History  of  England 

Civil  Government 
Moral  Sciences 
In  addition  to  the  above  course,  "instruction  is 
given  in  mental  arithmetic  and  penmanship, 
practical  instruction  in  agriculture,  in  housework 
and  in  household  industries,  and  drill  in  teaching 
through  the  course;  a  course  of  lectures  every 
winter  upon  the  application  of  science  to  agri- 
culture, daily  inspection  of  rooms." 

1875-76  Girls  of  the  Middle  Class  sent  by  eights  to  the 
several  housekeepers  on  the  place  Saturday 
mornings  to  be  instructed  in  bread-making  and 
plain  cooking. 
At  the  close  of  the  term  a  Teachers'  Institute  held. 
This  marks  the  beginning  of  Hampton's  Sum- 
mer Schools. 

1878-79  Daily  lessons  in  the  art  of  teaching  given  at  the 
Butler  School. 

1879-80  A  night  school  started  for  preparatory  students 
who  work  ten  hours  a  day  on  the  farm  and  in 
the  saw-mill.  Booker  T.  Washington  put  in 
charge. 

1880  Cooking    classes    for    girls    established    under    a 

special  teacher. 

1881-82         Girls  first  admitted  to  night  school. 

365 


APPENDIX  TEN 

1883  Each  Senior  required  to  teach  one  half-day  every 

two  weeks  at  the  Butler  School. 

1889  Instruction  in  vocal  music  introduced. 

1890  Second  Morrill  Act  passed  by  Congress.     With  the 

increased  income  resulting,  an  instructor  in 
scientific  agriculture  engaged,  beginning  work 
January  1891. 
1890-91  Intermediate  class  formed  as  connecting  link 
between  Preparatory  Class  of  Night  School  and 
Junior  Class  of  Day  School. 

1892  Each  Senior  spends  month  at  the  Whittier  School. 

Instruction  in  mechanical  drawing  in  connection 
with  trade-work  introduced. 

1893  Up  to  this  time  Night  School,  the  Indian  Depart- 

ment, and  Day  School  had  all  been  independent 
departments  with  separate  teachers.  From  this 
time  on  teachers  were  engaged  to  teach  in  any 
one  or  more  departments  as  need  might  dictate. 
Instruction  in  physical  training  for  girls  intro- 
duced. 
1893-94        The  catalogue  announces  special  courses  : — 

1.  An  advanced  Normal  Course  for  graduates 

and  others  of  similar  standing. 

2.  One  or  two  years'  teaching  at  Whittier  School. 

3.  Kindergarten  Training  School. 

4.  Gymnastic  Training  Course. 

Industrial  work  is  now  divided  into  three  classes : 

1.  Technical  training,  including  housework  and 

manual  training. 

2.  Trades ; 

Girls  :  Tailoring,  shirtmaking,  dressmaking, 

or  the  seamstress  trade. 
Boys  :  Agriculture,  blacksmithing,  carpen- 
try, harnessmaking,  painting,  print- 
366 


APPENDIX  TEN 

ing,    planing-machine   work,    shoe- 
making,    tailoring,   wheelwrighting, 
or  woodworking. 
3.   Those  industries  which  have  self-support  for 
their  chief  object. 

1895  Trade  certificates  given  for  the  first  time  on  the 

satisfactory  completion  of  three  years'  work. 
Definite  courses  laid  down  for  shop  work. 
Entrance  requirements  to  the  Day  School  increased 

so  as  to  include  fractions  and  decimals. 

1896  Armstrong-Slater  Memorial  Trade-School  opened. 

Last  trade  to  be  incorporated  with  the  Trade- 
School  was  printing,  in  1914. 

1896-97  Entrance  requirements  to  Night  School  made  the 
same  as  for  Day  School  with  the  addition  of 
liquid,  dry,  long,  and  avoirdupois  measure. 

1897-98  Normal  Course  of  two  years  after  the  completion 
of  regular  three-year  Academic  Course  estab- 
lished. 

1898-99         Business  Course  offered  to  graduates. 

1900-01  Entrance  requirements  for  the  Machine  Shop, 
Printing,  and  Dressmaking  increased. 

1901-02  Graduate  courses  offered  in  Teaching,  Agriculture, 
Electricity,  and  Domestic-Science. 

1904-05  Academic  Course  lengthened  by  the  addition  of 
one  year.  School  year  eight  months  long,  and 
the  school  week  four  days,  one  day  being  allowed 
as  a  "work  day"  on  which  the  student  may  work 
for  wages. 
Three-year  course  in  Agriculture,  parallel  with  the 
trade-courses  established. 

1905  Courses  of  instruction  in  the  Day  School  and  Night 

School  arranged  in  parallel  lines  so  as  to  facilitate 
transfer  from  one  to  the  other. 

367 


APPENDIX  TEN 

1905-06  All  girls  of  Senior  Class,  and  such  Senior  boys  as 
may  so  elect,  spend  the  entire  day  five  days  a 
week  for  one-half  year  in  the  Whittier  Training 
School  as  pupil-teachers. 

1908  The  minimum  requirements  for  admission  to  any 

trade  are  the  completion  of  half  the  work  of  the 
Junior  Year. 

1909  The  minimum  requirements  for  admission  to  the 

course  in  Agriculture  made  the  same  as  for  the 
Trade-School. 

191 2  The  Business  Course  changed  from  a  post-graduate 

course  to  a  four-year  undergraduate  course. 

1913  Hereafter  a  diploma  will  be  granted  to  no  one  who 

has  not  completed  a  course  in  some  skilled  voca- 
tion and  is  thereby  made  capable  of  self-support. 
All  regular  courses  for  boys  entering  the  school  in 
191 3  or  thereafter — Agriculture,  Trades,  Teach- 
ing, Business — put  on  a  four-year  secondary 
basis.  All  not  ready  for  secondary  work  (begin- 
ning with  what  has  been  the  Junior  Middle  Class) 
regarded  as  in  a  preparatory  department. 
Academic  subjects  now  form  an  integral  part 
of  every  industrial  course  and  for  the  first  time 
labor  on  the  farm  or  in  the  shop  counts  towards 
a  diploma. 

1914  The  four-year  plan  established  one  year  before  for 

boys  entering  in  1913  or  thereafter  now  applied 
to  girls.  The  first  class  of  boys  to  graduate  under 
this  new  plan  will  receive  their  diplomas  in 
191 8;    of  girls  in  1920. 

191 5  The  school  week  for  academic  classes  lengthened 

to  five  days  for  boys  and  to  four  and  a   half 
days  for  girls.     The  class  period  also  lengthened 
from  forty  to  fifty  minutes.     One  Night-School 
368 


APPENDIX  TEN 

recitation  period  transferred  to  seven  o'clock  in 
the  morning  and  Night  School  closed  at  8 :  30, 
after  which  evening  prayers  are  held. 
The  increase  in  class  time  for  boys  in  the  Academic 
Normal  Course,  as  compared  with  1903-04, 
amounts  to  150  per  cent;  for  girls,  to  about  130 
per  cent. 
1916  Hampton  Institute  placed  on  the  list  of  approved 

four-year  secondary  schools  by  the  Department 
of  Public  Instruction  of  Virginia. 


369 


APPENDIX  ELEVEN 

LIBRARY  CHRONOLOGY 

1870-71     Appeal  for  library  in  catalogue. 

1871-72     Donations  of  books,  etc.,  acknowledged. 

1873  Catalogue  printed,  listing  1275  vols. 

1879  Library  burned  in  Academic  Hall  on  November  9. 

Kitchen  of  General  Armstrong's  house  fitted   up 

for  use  as  a  reading-room. 

1881  Librarian  reports:   "Library  contains  900  volumes, 

about   25    per  cent  of  which   are    useful  to  the 
students." 

1882  Marshall   Hall  built  and   upper  floor  used  for  the 

Library. 

1883  2600  vols,  reported. 
1888  5500  vols,  reported. 

1892  Printed  finding-list  issued. 

1902-03     Collis   P.   Huntington   Memorial  Library  given   by 
Mrs,  Huntington. 

1903  Library  dedicated  April  28. 

1904  Library    opened    January    i.     About    15,000    vols. 

moved  into  it. 

January  IQ18 

Volumes  in  Library 45*670 

Uncatalogued  pamphlets 10,000 

Pictures  mounted  for  exhibition  and  circulation  .     .     .     20,000 


370 


APPENDIX  ELEVEN 


<o 

* 

5!    ^ 

<J> 

§    < 

r- 

^    -^ 

o> 

s 

5 

P 

« 

V 

k 

t« 

/ 

/ 

■^ 

0 

\ 

£ 

■n 

/ 

\ 

^ 

j 

52 

\ 

( 

\ 

1 

52 

; 

1 

/ 

/ 

V 

' 

2 

\ 

\ 

-  «0 

\ 

5;  a 

\ 

-  < 

s. 

y 

\ 

1 

2^ 

) 

\ 

1 

\ 

OO 

/ 

/ 

/ 

/ 

\ 

/ 

\ 

1 

\ 

o 

\ 

1 

2! 

in 
o 

\ 

^ 

\ 

\ 

\ 

52 

\. 

\ 

^ 

N^ 

' 

5? 

lO 

^s 

\ 

o 

<T> 

OJ 

O 

<r> 

o 

ff> 

5 

^     8    8     8     §    S     8     S 

?  ^ 

?   ^ 

?    ? 

>     g     g     g     « 

? 

o      ooo.oo       o< 

>       c 

>.       c 

>       c 

o'       •or      o'      "i       o"      to"       o       « 

1       t< 

?     f 

J      irt-      o-      » 

|-.<0«'0w«^          <*.. 

Q 

< 


2 

< 

a 

2 

M 
H 
H 
< 


a 

o 
as 

o 


371 


APPENDIX  TWELVE 


^^^1  1  [  1  '  M  1  M  '  !  [  1  1  1  1  i  1  1  M  M 

lllllliril'lllllll   TTT- 

_-    -    --X 

_X    _    2 

;         _±    -' 

-     -           T     V- 

"_   -          _ .    -  i--2^- 

a.n~'      "      ~"          -      "             

:                     .  -        Lt:_Tf  _ 

860- 

-     J  h      ^  V  3 

I-    -                       It-^    Z    A       - 

.1.  s,     ...  _ 

- 

_   ..  I  _     

_ 

_               i  .  .         

1  . .     -  - 

:                  ^     :          :  :_ 

---.:: 

_ 

-  --    [              :.:  : 

JL                   ... 

i       _    -- 

±1  I- 

__ 

.  _ _        J           _-  -_  _ 

.  _ .                     

fiftn                         -    '          Z     ,    j^^s. 

:: L  :::::::  :  :_::: 

660                                             ^           1 

1-3 

fi6Q-                            -     -        >     -.  - 

L            I     .          -     .:  _ 

. '^ 

L    vn^^-  -                  -"" 

.     _ZC7          -                    

:      i      -_-                ::: 

-I  -    - .        -                -  _ 

.:  _     ._         __-     _ 

«£/\                                                                          ^ 

-         A 

CAn              „     -               ?J 

540                                   Si 

«->o                                   ^ 

*^°                           -        Cji 

K  500                              --;|  - 

J  460                                    -^J 

O  ^^ft                                    ?J 

a  440                               |f 

5  ^-7n            ^               81    _    _ 

-_ 

_  _  _                               / 

XAn  ~Z         ~          '      J 

"" 

-  --                           i 

^  ^ 

_«_             / 

_ 

i£rt 

160                              -        -           jr                 - 

isn                                             ^       -I       S 

Z?!'oy --      -      -         

~wf -wfV,^, 

« ■»« 

•^I'^''/^-      . 

izo    -    -                   -^              -     - 

rT>£2^ 

•  An        I                                             J 

3ff      S 

_t         S              -       ^ 

«n  I  -         -          -    2  " 

X             !s     ,-          Z 

:::  :  :  ±_  ^:-^?  :    t 

*rt                                              -                                                             _-< 

^n  _           _^"     i     ,*j     J     XIE^lt 

1          ,|J           -'t     \       '                         -     v/^ 

*°  _    ^    _  !:  .^'^i±'i:-±: 

•  Tr          '                ^ 

7n  -^     -L                                   jZtXU 

•t-    ij_      1    ' 

^^           -^                                      Immjier 

of,  Indian  ^mduote.  ■  L  . 

o"    '        '  ._...--<:..+4.+-i-l 

i4++-r-+..+-t+-.x.  •+   -•.. - 

71  TJ  -TS  77  79    t)    B   SS  '87  -89  '9i   ■» 
•72  74  76  7S  •«>  K  M   W  86  "90  SZ  -"^ 

■95  '97   99  01    Oi   05  W  "09  1     IJ  15   17 
14  ■%  98  TO  TK  04  106  08  -10  12  '14   16 

Enrollment  of  Negro  and  Indian  Students. 
Indian  Graduates 


Number  of  Negro  and 


372 


APPENDIX  TWELVE 


TTie  disproportion  between  the  growth  of  enrollment  and  the 
number  of  graduates,  shown  in  the  accompanying  chart,  is  due 
chiefly  to  three  causes : — 

1.  In  the  early  days  of  the  Hampton  School  there  was  a 
well-defined  course  of  three  years,  and  the  ratio  of  graduates  to 
the  number  enrolled  was  relatively  high.  Later,  the  admission 
of  preparatory  students  virtually  lengthened  the  course  to  four 
or  five  years.  About  half  the  school  was  of  elementary  grade 
and  the  mortality  in  the  lower  half  comparatively  high. 

2.  After  the  trades  became  well  established  large  numbers  of 
boys  came  for  trades  only  and  left  without  graduating  as  soon 
as  these  were  obtained. 

3.  At  one  period  in  the  school's  history  students  were  obliged 
to  go  out  to  teach  for  a  year  before  taking  the  work  of  the 
Senior  year.     Many  did  not  return  to  graduate. 


373 


APPENDIX  THIRTEEN 


APPENDIX  THIRTEEN 


APPENDIX  FOURTEEN 


APPENDIX  FOURTEEN 


K>  »0         (Vi 


^ 

^ 

5 

^ 

<- 

1 

to 

kj 

^ 
^ 

§ 

g 

i 

1 

1 

0: 

5 

s 

^ 

^ 

^ 

^ 

vj 

3^ 

^ 

% 

377 


APPENDIX  FIFTEEN 


lllii 


1 1  III  II  r 
iiiiiiiiii 


y  si 


378 


APPENDIX 


SIXTEEN 


PERMANENT  SCHOLARSHIPS 

(Included  in  Endowment) 


Auotrm  Nake  of  scholarship 

;     1,500         Ann  Aitken 
1,000         All  Souls 

1,000         Ames 

2,000  Elizabeth  Mitchell  Ames  Me- 

morial 

2,000         Armstrong  League  of  Hampton 
Workers 

1,500         Armstrong  Memorial 

3,000  S.  C.  and  Emma  W.  Armstrong 

25,000  Charlotte  Augusta  Astor  Schol- 

arships 

1,500         J.  J.  Astor 
600         Mary  E.  Atkins 

6,000  Baker  Scholarships 

2,000       •  E.  I.  Baldwin 

2,500  In   memory  of   Mrs.  Jeanette 

Sterling  Baldwin 

800  Francis  B.  Banister  Permanent 

Industrial  Scholarship 
800         Mrs.  William  B.  Banister  Per- 
manent   Industrial    Scholar- 
ship 

1,000  Beadle 

1,000  Benedict 

1,500  Frederick  Billings 

3/xx>  Bishop 

2,000         Francis   C.    Briggs   Permanent 
Academic  Scholarship 

1,000         Brown 

S,ooo         George  E.   Brown   Scholarship 
Fund 

1,000  John  Carter  Brown  Memorial 

800  Mrs.  Lucy  A.  Buhler  Memorial 

1,500         Elizabeth  Lyman  Bullard 


DONOft 

Estate  of  Ann  Aitken 
Members  of  All  Souls  Church, 

New  York  City 
Oliver  Ames 
Hampton  Club  of  Springfield, 

Mass. 
Armstrong  League  of  Hampton 

Workers 
Hampton  Alumni  Association 
Mary  A.  Longstreth 
Estate    of   Charlotte    Augusta 

Astor 
Mrs.  J.  J.  Astor 
Mrs.  William  H.  Reed 
Estate  of  E.  J.  W.  Baker 
Mrs.  E.  I.  Baldwin 
Mrs.  J.  H.  Woods,  in  memory 

of  her  mother 
Estate  of  Francis  C.  Briggs 

Estate  of  Francis  C.  Briggs 


J.  B.  Beadle 
Aaron  Benedict 
Miss  Eliza  Billings 
Hon.  Charles  R.  Bishop 
Estate  of  Francis  C.  Briggs 

James  Brown 

Bequest  of  Louisa  J.  Brown 

Mrs.  Sophia  Augusta  Brown 
Miss  Lucy  A.  Kutz 
Ladies  of  King's  Chapel,  Boston, 
Mass. 


379 


APPENDIX  SIXTEEN 


Amount 


Name  of  scholarship 


$i,ooo 

Butler 

5,000 

Margaret  Carnegie  Scholarship 

Fund 

1,000 

Carter 

1,000 

Centennial 

1,000 

Center  Church 

1,000 

Center  Church 

1,000 

Cheever 

2,000 

Coburn 

1,500 

Eliza  C.  Collins 

1,000 

Collord  Fund 

1,000 

Cone 

5,000 

Frederick  Crane  Scholarships 

1,500 

James  S.  Darling 

800 

James  Davenport 

2,000 

Denison 

1,000 

De  Wolf 

1,000 

Dickinson 

2,500 

Mrs.  Melissa  P.  Dodge 

4,500 

William  E.  Dodge 

2,000 

John  Dwight 

1.750 

Charles  A.  Easton 

1,000 

Eldredge 

1,000 

Ely 

2,000 

Anna  R.  Faulkner  Memorial 

1,500 

Mrs.  James  R.  Faulkner 

1,000 

George  A.  Field  Scholarship 

1,000 

Fletcher  Memorial 

2,000 

The  Rev.  Henry  Wilder  Foote 

800 

Henry  Wilder  Foote  Industrial 

Scholarship 

2,500 

The  Rosamond  Freeman  Schol- 

arship 

1,500 

"Friend" 

1,000 

"A  Friend  in  Newark,"  N.  J. 

3,500 

The  Gibbons  Association  Schol- 

arships 

1,500 

Sarah  E.  Gilbert 

10,000 

Goodnow 

1,000 

Goodnow  Memorial 

1,500 

Julia  F.  Gould 

1,000 

Graves 

1,000 

William  H.  GriflSn  Scholarship 

DONOK 

Nathan  Butler 

Miss  Margaret  Carnegie 

Mrs.  R.  W.  Carter 

Miss  S.  B.  Brown 

Members  of  Center  Congrega- 
tional Church,  Hartford, 
Conn. 

Members  of  Center  Church, 
New  Haven,  Conn. 

Mrs.  Ichabod  Washburn 

Mrs.  George  W.  Coburn 

Miss  M.  A.  Collins 

Estate  of  George  W.  Collord 

Joseph  E.  Cone 

Frederick  Crane 

F.  W.  Darling  and  Estate  of 
James  S.  Darling 

Anonymous 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  John  H.  Denison 

Mrs.  M.  DeW.  Rogers  and 
Miss  C.  De  Wolf 

Mrs.  M.  A.  Dickinson 

Mrs.  Melissa  P.  Dodge 

Estate  of  William  E.  Dodge       ^ 

John  Dwight 

Mrs.  Edward  Fuller 

John  B.  Eldredge 

R.  S.  Ely 

Anonymous 

The  Misses  Faulkner 

Bequest  of  George  A.  Field 

Estate  of  Mrs.  Fletcher 

A  Member  of  King's  Chapel, 
Boston,  Mass. 

Mrs.  Shepherd  Brooks 

Mrs.  James  G.  Freeman 

Anonymous 
Anonymous 
Former  Pupils  and  Friends  of 

Julia  F.  Gibbons 
Sarah  E.  Gilbert 
Estate  of  Edward  A.  Goodnow 
Edward  A.  Goodnow 
Estate  of  Julia  F.  Gould 
R.  R.  Graves 
Bequest  of  William  H.  GriflSn 


380 


APPENDIX  SIXTEEN 


AMOUNT  Name  of  scholakship 

$1,500         Stephen  R.  Griggs  Memorial 
1,000         Grover 
800  Sarah  W.  Hale  Permanent  In- 

dustrial Scholarship 
3,500  Hampton  Club 

1,500         Maria  M.  Hastings 
1,000  Henry  P.  Haven 

1,000         Isaac  P.  Hazard 
3,000  Mrs.  JuHa  F.  Hickok 

800         H.  J.  H. 

800         Walter  Clarke  Hogan 
1,000  Hooper 

800  Hope  Industrial  Scholarship  in 

memory      of     Ellen      Hope 
Rankin 
1,000  Hopkins 

1,000         Herman  John  Huidekoper  In- 
dustrial Scholarship 
800  Margaret  Noyes  Hutchins  In- 

dustrial Scholarship 

1,000         Alexander  Hyde 

1,800  Laura  Jacobi 

1,000  Kellogg 

1,200         John  S.  Kennedy 

2,000  Cornelia  A.  Kenney  Scholar- 
ship Fund 

1,500  Marmaduke    C.    Kimber    Me- 

morial 

1,000  King's  Chapel 

1,000  William  Kittredge 

1,000  Ladies'    Sanitary    Commission 

Society  of  Boston,  Mass. 

1,500  Elizabeth  W.  Lewis  Memorial 

1,500  William  Life 

1,000  Longstreth 

1,500  Mary  Anna  Longstreth 

1,000  Rebecca  Amory  Lowell 

1,500  C.  C.  Lyman 

1,000  Marquand 

800  Mary  N.  Mead 

1,000  Frederick  Marquand  Monroe 

500         William  Taylor  McGilbry  In- 
dustrial Scholarship 


DONOK 

Miss  Helen  M.  Griggs 

W.  P.  Grover 

Estate  of  Francis  C.  Briggs 

Hampton      Club,     Springfield, 

Mass. 
Maria  M.  Hastings 
Trust  Estate  of  H.  P.  Haven 
Isaac  P.  Hazard 
Estate  of  Mrs.  Julia  F,  Hickok 
"A  Friend" 
Charles  M.  Hogan 
Alice  S.  Hooper 
Mrs.  Orville  J.  Bliss 


Parishioners  of  Rev.  H.  Hop- 
kins, Westfield,  Mass. 
Mrs.  Henry  P.  Kidder 

Mrs.  Henry  D.  Noyes 

William  Hyde 

Pupils,  Alumnae,  and  Teachers 
of  Miss  Laura  Jacobi's  School 
The  Misses  E.  and  N.  Kellogg 
John  S.  Kennedy 
Asa  W.  Kenney 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  A.  M.  Kimber 

Members     of    King's    Chapel, 

Boston,  Mass. 
Estate  of  William  Kittredge 
Miss  Abby  W.  May,  Treasurer 

"Friends" 

Mrs.  S.  J.  Life 

Mary  Anna  Longstreth 

The  Mary  Longstreth  Alumnae 

Association,  Philadelphia 
Anna  C.  Lowell 
C.  C.  Lyman 
Frederick  Marquand 
William  Rutherford  Mead  and 

Mrs.  Olga  K.  Mead 
Frederick  Marquand 
A.  E.  Crawford 


381 


APPENDIX  SIXTEEN 


Amount 


Name  ot  scholarship 


^0,000 

Robert   C.  Ogden   Scholarship 

Fund 

I.CXX) 

Osgood 

I, OCX) 

Lydia  Lyman  Paine  Industrial 

Scholarship 

1,000 

Robert  Treat  Paine  Memorial 

1,000 

Porter 

1,000 

Potter 

1,500 

Anna  M.  Powers 

600 

Thomas  H.  Powers  Memorial 

1,800 

Oliver  Prescott  Permanent  Aca- 

demic Scholarship 

8co 

Louisa  M.  Richards 

1,500 

Hannah  W.  Richardson 

1,000 

Richmond 

800 

In  memoriam  Mercy  E.  Russell 

1,000 

Sage 

1,000 

Carl  Schurz 

10,684.45 

Mary  C.   and   Mary   Shannon 

Fund  for  Free  Scholarships 

12,000 

Col.      Robert      Gould      Shaw 

Scholarship  Fund 

1,500 

Mrs.  M.  A.  Shurtleff 

1,500 

Samuel  G.  Simpkins 

1,000 

Skinner  Memorial 

4.493-93 

W.   Smead   Memorial   Scholar- 

ships 

1,000 

Elizur  Smith 

1,000 

Wellington  Smith 

1,500 

George  L.  Stearns  Memorial 

1,225 

Mary  E.  Stearns 

1,000 

Steere  Memorial 

1,000 

Lewis  French  Sterns  Industrial 

Scholarship 

2,000 

Mr.    and    Mrs.    Isidor    Straus 

Memorial  Scholarship 

2,OCO 

The  Thankful  Scholarship 

1,000 

Thompson 

1,000 

J.  P.  Thompson 

800 

Cornelia  Wakeman  Tompkins 

1,000 

Trevor 

2,000 

Mary  C.  Wakeman  Academic 

Scholarship 

Donor 

Brooklyn  Armstrong  Associa- 
tion, Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Trustees  of  Lucy  Osgood  be- 
quests 

Robert  Treat  Paine  2d 

Miss  Ethel  L.  Paine 

Parishioners  and  Friends  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Porter  of  Farming- 
ton,  Conn. 

Howard  Potter 

Mrs.  J.  Campbell  Harris 

Mrs.  J.  Campbell  Harris 

Helen  P.  Stetson,  Oliver  Pres- 
cott, Jr.,  and  Mary  R.  Pres- 
cott 

Miss  Alice  A.  Richards 

Hannah  W.  Richardson 

Mrs.  Anna  Richmond 

Mrs.  C.  K.  Russell 

Legacy  of  Orrin  Sage 

Carl  L.  Schurz  and  sisters 

Bequest  of  Mary  Shannon 

Mrs.  Francis  C.  Barlow 

Mrs.  M.  A.  ShurtlefF 
Estate  of  Samuel  G.  Simpkins 
Mrs.  Mary  L.  Skinner 
Bequest  of  Delia  Smead 

Estate  of  Elizur  Smith 

Wellington  Smith 

Mrs.  Mary  E.  Stearns 

Estate  of  Mary  E.  Steams 

H.  J.  Steere 

Estate    of    Samuel     Macauley 

Jackson 
Their  sons 

A  Member  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

C.  H.  Thompson 

Mrs.  S.  P.  Maghee 

Estate  of  Cornelia  Wakeman 
Tompkins 

Mrs.  J.  B.  Trevor 

Mrs.  Mary  C.  Wakeman 


382 


APPENDIX  SIXTEEN 


AllODlllT 


Name  of  scbolasship 


Donor 


$3,000 

Waldorf  and  Pauline 

Mrs.  J.  J.  Astor 

1,900 

Washburn 

Mrs.  Ichabod  Washburn 

1,500 

The  Wells  Scholarship 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  C.  L.  Wells 

800 

Cornelius  L.  Wells 

Mrs.  Abby  L.  Wells 

1,500 

Byron  Weston 

Byron  Weston 

2,000 

White 

James  White 

1,000 

Whitin 

Whitin  Brothers 

800 

John  J.  Williams 

John  J.  WiUiams 

1,500 

Mrs.  Jane  Winchester  Memorial 

Mrs.  Thomas  G.  Bennett 

1,000 

Theodore  Winthrop 

Miss  Jane  Stuart  Woolsey 

600 

Wister 

Mrs.  Sarah  B.  Wister 

1,500 

Harriet  F.  Wolcott 

Bequest  of  Harriet  F.  Wolcott 

1,500 

Huntington  Frothingham 

cott 
J.  Huntington  Wolcott 

Wol- 

Bequest  of  Harriet  F.  Wolcott 

1,500 

Estate  of  J.  Huntington  Wol- 

4.750 

Wood 

cott 
Estate  of  Frank  Wood 

700 

Richard  D.  Wood 

Miss  Juliana  Wood 

1,500 

Robert  Williams  Wood 

Mrs.  R.  W.  Wood 

800 

In      memoriam       Mrs. 
Wright 

Glen 

Mrs.  H.  D.  Noyes 

$315,203.38 

383 


APPENDIX  SEVENTEEN 

HAMPTON   ASSOCIATIONS 

A  brief  record  of  existing  associations,  committees,  clubs, 
and  leagues,  organized  for  the  purposes  of  raising  funds  for 
Hampton   Institute,  and  otherwise  helping  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  school. 

Bedford  Armstrong  Association. 

The  Bedford  Armstrong  Association  of  New  York,  organized 
in  1896  by  Mrs.  George  Wood  and  Miss  Edith  Armstrong,  has 
ever  since,  with  loyal  interest  in  Hampton's  work,  supported 
an  industrial  scholarship.  After  the  death  of  Miss  Catherine 
M.  Bates,  for  many  years  Treasurer  of  the  Association,  Miss 
Eloise  P.  Luquer  took  up  the  duties  of  Hampton  correspondent 
for  the  Association. 

Boston  Hampton  Committee. 

The  Boston  friends  of  Hampton  Institute  were  from  the  very 
first  among  the  most  generous  and  enthusiastic  of  the  school's 
supporters.  In  November  1891,  immediately  after  General 
Armstrong  was  stricken  with  paralysis,  steps  were  taken  by 
Dr.  Samuel  Eliot  and  others  among  Boston's  best-known  citi- 
zens, to  send  out  an  urgent  appeal  for  funds.  As  the  result 
of  an  inspiring  meeting  held  at  the  Old  South  Meeting  House, 
$6485  was  contributed  to  the  endowment  fund  of  the  school. 
The  next  year  the  committee  in  charge  of  this  movement 
was  known  as  the  "Boston  Armstrong  Association."  In 
April    1893,   a   number   of  those  most  interested,  under  the 

384 


APPENDIX  SEVENTEEN 

leadership  of  Mrs.  Stephen  H.  BuUard,  organized  the  Ladies' 
Hampton  Committee,  later  called  the  Boston  Hampton  Com- 
mittee. Before  July  i,  $1640  had  been  sent  to  the  school, 
which  amount  has  been  gradually  increased,  until  it  now 
averages  over  $11,000  annually.  Officers:  President^ 
Mrs.  Dudley  L.  Pickman;  Secretary,  Mrs.  James  Means; 
Treasurer,  Miss  Alice  P.  Tapley ;  Asst.  Treasurer,  Mrs.  William 
B.  Everett. 

Brooklyn  Armstrong  Association. 

The  Brooklyn  Armstrong  Association  was  organized  in  the 
spring  of  1906,  by  a  group  of  people  interested  in  the  Hampton 
method  of  solving  race  problems-  As  in  the  case  of  the  Boston 
Hampton  Committee,  all  the  expenses  of  office  work,  involving 
a  mailing  list  of  thousands  of  names,  and  careful  accounting, 
are  generously  given  by  men  and  women  whose  time  and  thought 
are  of  great  value.  This  makes  it  possible  to  send  every  dollar 
contributed  by  members  and  their  friends,  direct  to  Hamp- 
ton. During  the  eleven  years  of  its  existence,  the  Brooklyn 
Association  has  raised  the  surprising  amount  of  $78,598, 
including  $40,000  for  permanent  scholarships,  thus  greatly 
easing  the  school's  financial  burden.  Officers  :  President, 
Alexander  B.  Trowbridge;  Vice-Presidents,  Mrs.  Wm.  Gilman 
Low,  Mrs.  Charles  W.  Ide,  George  Foster  Peabody,  Walter  H. 
Crittenden ;  Secretary,  Henry  Sherman  Adams ;  Treasurer,  H. 
Beale  Spelman. 

Hampton:  Armstrong  League  of  Hampton  Workers. 

The  Armstrong  League  of  Hampton  Workers,  as  its  name 
implies,  is  an  organization  of  the  teachers  and  other  workers 
of  the  school,  both  past  and  present.  It  was  formed  in  October 
1893,  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Frissell,  who  was  just  entering 
upon  his  long  term  of  service  as  Principal.  Aside  from  the 
active  work  of  the  League  in  keeping  alive  the  history  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  school,  and  fostering  esprit  de  corps  among  all 

38s 


APPENDIX  SEVENTEEN 

workers,  old  and  new,  it  has  contributed  $3500  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  permanent  scholarships,  given  $1000  to  the  Dixie 
Hospital,  $850  to  the  school  for  current  expenses  at  a  time 
of  special  need,  and  established  an  Armstrong  Memorial 
Fund,  the  income  of  which  is  used  to  aid  needy  ex-workers 
who  are  not  eligible  for  the  school  pension.  Officers  :  Presi- 
dent, Frank  K.  Rogers;  First  Vice-President,  Albert  Howe; 
Corresponding  Secretary,  Helen  W,  Ludlow ;  Recording  Secre- 
tary, Emily  "K.  Herron ;  Treasurer,  Wm.  H.  Scoville. 

Massachusetts  Hampton  Association. 

The  Massachusetts  Hampton  Association  was  organized  in 
the  spring  of  191 3  for  the  purpose  of  affiliating  the  various 
groups  already  formed  in  the  State,  and  starting  new  ones. 
The  Executive  Committee  was  made  up  of  representatives  of 
both  the  old  and  new  branches,  and  under  its  efficient  chairman 
has  rendered  Hampton  Institute  great  service  in  arranging  for 
meetings  and  maintaining  enthusiasm,  in  addition  to  the  do- 
nations of  several  hundred  dollars  sent  each  year  towards  the 
support  of  the  school.  Officers  :  President,  W.  Cameron 
Forbes;  Secretary,  Miss  Marion  Homans;  Treasurer,  ]o\\v\  F. 
Moors ;  Chairman  of  Executive  Committee,  Prof.  Henry  Wilder 
Foote. 

National  Hampton  Association. 

During  the  days  of  Hampton's  Anniversary  celebration  in 
April  1913,  representatives  of  most  of  the  clubs  and  associations 
which  were  contributing  to  the  support  of  the  school,  gathered 
together  in  the  Museum  at  Hampton,  compared  the  work  they 
were  doing,  and  organized  the  National  Hampton  Association 
for  the  purpose  of  centralizing  their  efforts  and  thus  making 
possible  more  effective  co-operation.  The  value  of  this  move- 
ment, which  Mr.  Sydney  Dodd  Frissell  promoted  with  much 
enthusiasm,  can  hardly  be  overestimated  in  simplifying  the 
campaign  work  of  the  school — always  a  necessary  though  diffi- 
386 


APPENDIX  SEVENTEEN 

cult  task.  Officers  :  President  Alexander  B.  Trowbridge ; 
Vice-President,  Dr.  Charles  J.  Hatfield ;  Recording  Secretary- 
Treasurer,  Harold  Peabody;  Executive  Secretary,  Sydney  Dodd 
Frissell, 

New  York  Armstrong  League. 

The  Armstrong  League  of  New  York  City  was  formed  in 
1914  by  a  number  of  the  younger  friends  of  Hampton  Institute, 
who  had  visited  the  school,  and  wanted  to  do  something  defi- 
nite to  help  on  the  work.  In  the  four  years  of  its  existence 
this  League  has  contributed  ten  full  scholarships  to  Hampton, 
and  helped  in  various  other  ways — a  record  of  which  it  may 
well  be  proud.  Officers  :  President,  Miss  Katherine  G. 
Chapin ;  Vice-Presidents,  Miss  Mary  Jay  SchiefFelin,  F.  Kings- 
bury Bull ;  Recording  Secretary,  Miss  Mabel  Hinton ;  Corre- 
sponding Secretary,  Miss  M.  Louise  Dixon ;  Treasurer,  Douglas 
M.  MofFat. 

New  York  Hampton  Association. 

At  the  time  of  General  Armstrong's  illness  in  1891  a  com- 
mittee of  ladies  in  New  York  undertook  to  raise  funds  for  the 
school.  The  following  year  the  New  York  Armstrong  Associa- 
tion was  organized,  and  sent  a  considerable  sum  to  Hampton. 
The  Association  enlarged  its  membership,  engaged  a  sec- 
retary and  maintained  an  office,  which  was  made  the  head- 
quarters for  the  New  York  campaign  work  by  Dr.  Frissell  and 
his  associates.  In  1914  the  name  was  changed  to  The  Hampton 
Association  of  New  York.  The  membership  numbers  about  a 
thousand  and  includes  many  of  Hampton's  most  loyal  and 
liberal  friends.  The  thousands  of  dollars  which  have  been 
sent  to  the  school  are  only  a  part  of  the  aid  rendered,  because 
the  great  public  meetings  arranged  by  the  Association  have 
called  attention  to  the  progress  of  the  Negro  and  have  main- 
tained a  sympathetic  interest  in  Hampton  Institute. 
Officers:     President,  Wm.  Jay  Schieffelin;    Vice-Presidents, 

387 


APPENDIX  SEVENTEEN 

Mrs.  Arthur  Curtiss  James,  Mrs.  Alexander  Purves,  George 
McAneny;  Secretary y  Miss  Emily  Bleecker;  Treasurer^  A.  S. 
Frissell. 

Orange  Hampton  Club. 

The  Orange  Hampton  Club,  founded  April  13,  1887,  has 
ever  since  delighted  many  of  the  Hampton  graduates  with 
generous  Christmas  boxes  sent  to  their  pupils  in  remote 
country  districts.  Two  annual  seventy-dollar  scholarships 
have  enabled  a  number  of  the  Hampton  boys  and  girls  to  pre- 
pare themselves  for  their  life  work.  It  speaks  well  for  the 
interest  Hampton  inspires  that  a  club,  with  an  active  member- 
ship of  only  thirty-five,  should  carry  on  its  work  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  with  unabated  vigor.  Officers  :  Pres- 
ident, Mrs.  Clarence  H.  Kelsey ;  Vice-Presidents,  Mrs.  Wm.  B. 
Harris,  Mrs.  E.  C.  Merrill;  Secretary,  Miss  Annie  Taylor; 
Treasurer,  Mrs.  Lorenzo  Benedict. 

Philadelphia  Hampton  Committee. 

The  extension  work  for  Hampton  in  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has 
had  a  rather  intermittent  existence,  but  throughout  all  these 
years  the  Philadelphia  friends  have  stood  by  Hampton  most 
loyally  and  have  given  the  school  their  generous  and  sympa- 
thetic support.  As  long  ago  as  1895,  an  Armstrong  Associa- 
tion was  started  in  Philadelphia  and,  with  the  help  of  Mr. 
Robert  C.  Ogden,  arranged  for  the  Hampton  entertainments, 
and  collected  funds  for  the  school.  In  1907  an  organization 
was  formed  to  work  for  the  Negroes  of  Philadelphia.  At  the 
suggestion  and  wish  of  Dr.  Frissell  this  was  called  "The 
Armstrong  Association  of  Philadelphia."  This  organization 
is  still  conducting  its  work  and  is  now  affiliated  with  the  National 
League  on  Urban  Conditions  among  Negroes.  After  1907,  for  a 
number  of  years  meetings  were  arranged  for  Hampton  by 
friends  of  the  Philadelphia  Armstrong  Association,  but  in  191 3, 
the  Philadelphia  Hampton  Committee  was  started  in  the  same 

388 


APPENDIX  SEVENTEEN 

office,  with  a  paid  secretary.  This  plan  has  been  abandoned 
but  the  Hampton  Committee  and  the  interest  of  Philadelphia 
friends  still  continue. 

Springfield  Hampton  Club. 

The  oldest  of  all  existing  associations  is  the  Springfield 
Hampton  Club  of  Massachusetts,  organized  in  1881.  In  1883 
it  began  sending  two  seventy-dollar  scholarships  to  Hamp- 
ton, which  have  been  continued  ever  since.  In  addition, 
hundreds  of  dollars  have  been  contributed  for  special  purposes 
in  times  of  need.  Generous  Christmas  boxes,  filled  with  useful 
gifts  of  clothing  and  other  material  of  practical  value,  have 
gladdened  the  hearts  of  many  Hampton  boys  and  girls  as  well  as 
graduates  in  schools  of  their  own.  Without  any  appeals  from 
Hampton,  interest  has  been  kept  up  year  after  year.  Officers  : 
President,  Mrs.  George  W.  Parsons;  Fice-President,  Mrs.  Rob- 
ert Barton ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  Wm.  H.  Home ;  Treasurer,  Mrs. 
L.  Whitney  Graves. 

Taunton  Hampton  Association. 

The  Taunton  Hampton  Association  of  Massachusetts  was 
organized  on  January  25, 1900,  and  "The  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe 
Scholarship"  established.  This  scholarship  has  been  faithfully 
supported  ever  since,  and  many  additional  contributions  have 
come  to  the  school  from  enthusiastic  and  generous  friends  in 
Taunton.  Officers:  President,  Miss  Flora  L.  Mason; 
Vice-President,  Mrs.  Charles  T.  Hubbard ;  Secretary,  Mrs. 
Herbert  Fisher;    Treasurer,  Miss  Edith  Seibel. 

Williamstown  :  Williams  Armstrong  League. 

A  more  fitting  place  for  an  Armstrong  League  could  hardly 
be  found  than  Williams  College,  General  Armstrong's  alma 
mater.  Since  the  League  was  established  in  1914,  $200  has 
been  sent  to  Hampton  for  scholarships,  and  notwithstanding 
the  heavy  drain  of  war  activities  upon  our  young  men,  there  is 

389 


APPENDIX  SEVENTEEN 

promise  of  more.     Officers:  President.   P.  R.  Miller;  Vice- 
President,  Russell  Powers;   Secretary,  J.  S.  Alexander,  Jr. 

Worcester  Hampton  Committee. 

In  1892-93,  during  General  Armstrong's  last  illness,  a  com- 
mittee of  Hampton's  friends  in  Worcester  collected  and  for- 
warded to  the  school,  through  Mr.  S.  S.  Green,  about  $2000. 
Although  the  donors  of  this  amount  did  not  continue  their 
organization,  many  of  them  kept  up  their  gifts  and  their 
interest  in  Hampton  Institute.  In  January  1916,  through  the 
suggestion  of  the  Massachusetts  Hampton  Association,  a  new 
branch  was  started,  known  as  the  Worcester  Hampton  Com- 
mittee. Already  $500  has  been  contributed  towards  the  sup- 
port of  the  school,  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  these 
Worcester  friends  of  the  Negro  and  Indian  races  will  not  allow 
their  interest  in  the  work  to  lapse.  Officers  :  Chairman,  Mrs. 
Leonard  P.  Kinnicut;  Treasurer,  Mrs.  Leonard  Wheeler;  Mem- 
bers, Mrs.  Frank  F.  Dresser,  Mrs.  Ira  N.  HoUis,  Mrs.  Philip 
W.  Moen. 


390 


INDEX 


Academic  Hall,  109,  180 

Amer.  Miss.  Ass'n.,41,93,  95,  96,  100, 
121,  188,  216,  236,  28s 

Armstrong,  Clarissa  C,  56 

Armstrong,  Richard,  55,  57 

Armstrong,  S.  C. :  comparison  with 
Frissell,  xviii,  237,  304;  parents,  55  ; 
birth,  59;  early  life,  60,  64;  at 
Williams,  63 ;  sketch  by  Denison, 
64;  recruiting  officer,  68;  war 
letters,  69,  71,  76,  78,  79,  81,  82,  84; 
Gettysburg,  70;  bravery  in  battle, 
72;  promotions,  73,  75,  81,  83; 
attitude  toward  Negro,  74,  77,  80; 
officer  colored  troops,  75 ;  vision 
of  Hampton,  89;  officer  Freedmen's 
Bureau,  54,  91 ;  principal  Hampton 
Inst.,  93 ;  refuses  Howard  presi- 
dency, 97 ;  marriage,  98 ;  states 
Hampton  plan  of  education,  99, 
108,  114;  influence  on  students, 
136;  Sunday  night  talks,  137,  139; 
wife's  death,  144;  building  up  Hamp- 
ton, 134,  141,  179;  visits  reserva- 
tions, 158,  196;  revisits  Hawaii, 
180,  209;  campaign  trips,  109,  183, 
211;  restates  principles  of  educa- 
tion, 201-207;  addresses,  198,  209 
(Oahu  College),  218,  220;  degrees, 
208 ;  second  marriage,  208 ;  last 
report,  215;  illness,  212,  214; 
death,  221;  grave,  221;  Memo- 
randa, 223 

Bacon,  Alice  M.,  189 
Bacon,  Dr.  Leonard,  102,  230 
Bacon,  Rebecca,  102 


Banks,  Gen.  N.  P.,  40 

Bay  Shore  Seaside  Resort,  263 

Beecher,  Lyman,  228 

Bethesda  Chapel,  186,  237 

Boston  Hampton  Committee,  214 

Brooks,  Phillips:    Armstrong  address, 

212 
Burlin,  Natalie  Curtis,  132 
Butler,  Gen.  B.  P.,  18,  28,  29,  188 
Butler  School,  188 
Buttrick,  Dr.  Wallace,  322 

Calhoun  School,  260 
Carlisle  School,  161,  165,  166 
Chesapeake  Hospital,  81 
Co-education,  119,  135,  169 
Conference   for   education    in    South, 

297 
Contrabands :     origin    of   name,    28 ; 

condition    in    1861,    33 ;     labor    of, 

30;   Butler  School,  188 
Curry,    Dr.   J.    L.   M.,   xiii,   53,   253, 

288,  292 

Denison,  J.  H.,  65 
Dett,  R.  N.,  133 
DiUard,  Dr.  J.  H.,  290 
DuBois,  W.  E.  B.,  52,  S3 

Eaton,  Gen.  John,  39,  48 
Education,  1 14-123,  201-207,  217 
Emancipation  Oak,  38 

Folsom,  Cora  M.,  153 
Franklin  Institute,  262 
Freedman's  Aid  Society,  285 


INDEX 


Freedmen's  Bureau :  development  of, 
43 ;  investigations,  46 ;  educa- 
tional work,  49,  52,  53,  96,  286; 
Armstrong  as  officer,  54,  91 ;  dis- 
continued, 47 

Frissell,  Amasa,  227,  229 

Frissell,  H.  B:  ancestors,  227;  birth, 
227;  early  life,  230;  Phillips 
Acad.,  231;  Yale,  231;  Union 
Seminary,  234;  chaplain  at  Hamp- 
ton, 187;  comparison  with  Arm- 
strong, xviii,  237,  304;  marriage, 
239;  vice-principal,  209;  princi- 
pal, 239;  character,  xx,  232, 
233-236,  240;  work  for  South, 
240,  291-299;  tribute  to  Washing- 
ton, 259;  degrees,  272;  death, 
xviii 

Frissell,  Lavinia  Barker,  229 

Garfield,  President,  95,  186 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  II 

General  Education  Board,  298,  305 

Gettysburg,  71 

Gloucester  School,  261 

Graduates  (Hampton),  142,  179,  192, 

252-265,  268-272 
Griggs,  Mrs.  Stephen,  96 

Hampton :  historical  associations,  26, 
32,  149;  burning,  31 

Hampton  Institute:  characteristics, 
xii-xxi:  historic  site,  28,  32;  pur- 
chase of  Wood  Farm,  96;  founder's 
purpose,  99,  108;  date  of  open- 
ing? 99  >  charter,  99;  campaign 
meetings,  109,  134,  183,  211 ;  church 
covenant,  iii;  plan  of  school, 
99,  108,  1 14-122;  formative  years, 
127;  Hampton  Singers,  132-134; 
coming  of  Indians,  148-150,  150- 
152;  influence  on  Indian  education, 
167;  outgrowths,  258-264;  ex- 
pansion, 178,  192,  242;  meaning 
of  "education   for    life,"    244-251, 


311;  influence  in  foreign  lands, 
265-270;  Hampton  spirit,  214, 
252,  273-275 ;  influence  in  South, 
291-299,  303 ;  future  problems, 
304-324;  Roll  of  Honor  in  World 
War,  319;  Hampton  an  "open 
door,"  270-272 

Hanus,  Prof.  Paul  H.,  306 

Hayes,  Pres.,  156,  166 

Haygood,  Dr.,  287,  292 

Hemenway,  Mrs,  Augustus,  no 

Higginson,  Col.  T.  W.,  18,  24 

Hilo  Manual  Labor  School,  181 

Hopkins,  Archibald,  73,  93 

Hopkins,  Mark,  65,  95 

Howard,  Gen.  O.  O. :  head  Freed- 
men's Bureau,  45,  91 ;  character 
and  work,  47,  50 

Howard  University,  51,  97,  119,  300 

Howe,  Albert,  loi,  109,  128 

Hunter,  Gen.,  17 

Hunter,  Senator,  15 

Indians:  at  Fort  Sill,  146;  at  Fort 
Marion,  147;  Hampton  Inst.,  148, 
150-156,  172;  records  returned 
Indians,  161,  196;  health,  164; 
withdrawal  Government  aid,  167; 
education,  167,  198;  reservations, 
145,  157,  159,  196-200 

Industrial  Home  School,  265 

Jeanes,  Anna  T.,  294 
Jeanes  Fund,  295 
Jesup,  Morris  K.,  247 
Jones,  Dr.  T.  J.,  261 
Jones,  William,  169 

Lee,  Col.  Henry,  16 

Letters:  (S.  C.  Armstrong)  Harper's 
Ferry,  69;  G.ettysburg,  71 ;  Hilton 
Head,  76;  Petersburg,  79;  Texas, 
84;  Hampton,  184,  200;  Hawaii, 
181 


392 


INDEX 


Lincoln,  President,  24;  his  attitude 
toward  slavery,  4;  steps  toward 
emancipation,  5 ;  conference  with 
Confederate  Commissioners,  8 

Ludlow,  Helen  W.,  106,  113 

Mackie,  Charlotte  L.,  105 

Mackie,  Mary  F.,  105 

Magruder,  Gen.,  31 

Mallory,  Col.,  28 

Marquand,  Frederick  D.,  180,  188 

Marshall,  Gen.  J.  F.  B.,  104,  113,  148 

Meharry  College,  300 

Memorial  Church,  180 

Missionary  service,  ideals  of,  124,  183, 

199,  252 
Monroe,  Elbert  B.,  180 
Morrill  Act,  113 
Moton,  R.  R.,  259,  314 

Negroes :  first  landing  in  America, 
32;  condition  at  emancipation,  33 ; 
loyalty,  12,  317;  enlistment  (Civil 
War)  14,  17;  record  as  soldiers, 
(Civil  War)  19-21 ;  racial  qualities, 
13,  23,  31,  115;  battle-hymn,  76; 
education,  52,  1 14-123,  182,  201- 
207,  216,  271,  283-295,  299-303, 
308-310;  migration,  314;  progress, 
315;  in  World  War,  317-320 

Negro  Organization  Society,  263 

Negro  spirituals,  76,  129-134 

New  York  Armstrong  Association,  215 

Ogden,  Robert  C,  276-278,  296-298 

Payne,  Henry  Clay,  108 
Peabody,  George  Foster,  294,  298 
Peabody  Fund,  142,  292 
Peake,  Mrs.  Mary,  38 
Penn  School,  39,  259 
People's  Building  and  Loan  Ass'n,  263 
People's   Village    School,    Mt.    Meigs, 
Ala.,  261 


Phelps-Stokes  Fund,  293 

Pierce,  Edward  L.,  39 

Potter,  Bishop,  134 

Pratt,  Gen.  R.  H.,  147,  150,  152,  154, 

167 
Purves,  Alexander,  278-281 

Rain-in-the-Face :   poems,  172 
Reports  (S.  C.  A.)    (1870),   1 14-122; 
(1878),  141 ;  (1884),  201 ;  (1893),  2IS 
Rockefeller,  John  D.,  297 

St.  Paul  Industrial  School,  260 

Schurz,  Carl,  46,  154,  160 

Scott,  Emmett  J.,  319 

Shaw,  Robert  Gould,  21 

Shaw  Monument,  16 

Slater  Fund,  247,  293 

Southern  Education  Board,  296 

Southern  Workman,  112 

Strieby,  Dr.,  127 

Summer  Schools,  191,  254 

Sunday-night  talks  (S.  C.  A.)  137,  139 

Thessalonica  Institute,  267 

Tolman,  Rev.  Richard,  iii 

Trade  School:  evolution,  246;  de- 
velopment, 248;  aim,  250;  cor- 
relation, 247 

Tuskegee  Institute,  193,  258 

University  Race  Commission,  289 

Virginia  Hall :  127;  "Sung Up,"  134 

Waldron,  Dr.  M.  M.,  106,  165 

Washington,  Booker  T.:  xiii,  52, 
108,  192,  259,  323;  examination, 
106;  tribute  to  Armstrong,  194 

Whittier  School,  188 

Williams,  W.  T.  B.,  258 

Wood  Farm,  93,  96 

Woolsey,  Jane  S.,  103 


393 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 
GARDEN  CITY,  N.  Y. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 

COLLEGE  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


NOV  2  4195^ 


Book  Slip-35ni-7,'63(D863484)4280 


LC  2851  H32P3 


L  005  739  298  7 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGCNAL  UBRAfiY  FACILITY 


A    001  073  166     9 


iiiiiir 


i!l    I  lii 


i 

i 


■    ili  ill 


''if 

i'hr 


ill!!  I  ill"'''' 
Ij    lililllliiU 

m 

r 


:'  :  ilNl'l 

; .  ■.■■! 

/pi 

:';iil 


iilliii! 


i! :;li!!ll!lliiillill|ll 


